Journey's End
by Fun-Sized Kirk
Summary: Cute little drabbles about the pictures at the end of chapter 108. There will be spoilers for the series in every chapter so don't read it if you haven't read the chapter. Rated T just in case for some later chapters.
1. A New Family Portrait

**Hello everyone!**

**I just suddenly got this idea today and I thought it's be really cute to do small stories to go with each of the pictures on the last pages of chapter 108 of Fullmetal Alchemist. So this will become a mulit-chapter fic.**

**This chapter (if you haven't guess already by the chapter name) is about the adorable family portrait of Ed and hiss family.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Edward let out a small sigh as he crumpled up another piece of paper before tossing it towards the over flowing trash bin and grabbing another, fresh piece of paper. He really could use a break but he kept telling himself that he needed to continue working or else he would get an ear full when he showed up from work Monday morning with nothing.

_Knock, knock_

Ed shifted in his hard seat but ignored the hammering on the front door; Winry would get it. He was so deep in thought that he didn't even hear the sounds of his two children squealing in delight or the always familiar voice of his very own brother. Once he had been blessed with his two wonderful but incredibly loud children, Ed had learned to turn all of their squeals and squeaks into white noise while he was working.

_Knock, knock_

Repressing a low growl of annoyance, Ed ran his flesh fingers through his messy blond locks before he scrunched up the paper again and tossed it again across the room. Ed then proceeded to grab his coffee mug and drain the practically full cup. But as he set the mug back down onto the wood surface, Ed felt eyes on the back of his head. Turning around, Ed saw that his door was cracked open but…no one was there. Sighing, Ed let his head hall only to be started out of his tired state when he saw a pair of identical gold eyes staring up at him.

"Don't do that!" Edward scolded the giggling toddler, who was now gripping onto one of Edward's legs while he smiled radiantly up at his father. "You almost gave daddy a heart attack!"

His son, who had covertly snuck into the room, then began to pull onto Ed's pant legs and the chair while he attempted to climb onto his father's lap. Ed smiled lightly at the small boy's attempts before he picked up the child, causing louder, ear-splitting giggles to unfold from him, and placed him onto his lap. Once safely on his father's lap, the small boy turned his attention to the things on the desk and began to reach out to them with fat fists.

"Whoa, whoa. Relax their kiddo," Ed said, quickly standing up from his chair and bringing the boy wit him, worrying that he might tip over an ink bottle or a candle. "Let's go put you back outside so you can play with your sister."

"Nun nuh!" the boy squeaked while shaking his head before he began to tug on the front of Ed's sweater. "Play!"

"I can't. Not now, but I promise we'll play _later_," Edward said, carrying his son across the room and through the open door.

"Edward!"

Edward turned around to see his wife, Winry, walking down the hall towards him and his son. She wore a plan lavender dress and had her hair secured behind her back, looking nice but slightly too clean for everyday child care. Something was up.

"_Momma_!" their son squealed at the sight of his mother.

Winry kissed her son on top of his head before she turned to look up at her husband. She looked slightly irritated but Ed had little clue as to why but knew by now that it would be for the best if he kept his mouth shut until he knew why.

"What's up?" Ed asked, slightly nervous.

"…you forgot didn't you?" Winry asked, giving him an exasperated look.

"Um…" Ed mumbled while he struggled to remember his packed schedule for the week. Did he let something slip?

"You did."

"Uh, maybe…"

"_Edward Elric!_" Winry exclaimed in such a reminiscing tone, Ed still half expected to be hit by a wrench any moment now, even though Winry had given up that habit for some time now.

"_Sorry!_ Now what did I forget?"

"_The picture!_" Winry yelled, throwing her hands into the air. "We were going to take a family picture today."

"We were?"

"Yes. Alphonse and Mei are already here and the photographer will be ready any minute now. So go clean up," Winry added with a snap before she collected her son from Edward's arms and walked down the hallway and into the living room, where Ed could now clearly hear his brother and his fiancé's voices.

"Oh well…" Ed muttered before he stepped into the nearby bathroom.

* * *

"Edward! Are you almost ready yet?"

"Coming!"

After about five minutes in the bathroom, Ed emerged slightly cleaner looking. He had combed and re-tied his hair along with shaving off some stubborn stubble from his face. He could only hope that he would look somewhat presentable in his old sweater and old slacks.

Al and Mei sat on the living room couch. His small daughter Trisha was playing on Al's lap, trying to reach and grab Xiao Mei, who was perched on Mei's shoulder while his son stumbled around the couch for the two adults' amusement. Winry stood in the other side of the room talking to an old, portly man with camera equipment. At the sight of her husband, Winry smiled, moved over to the couch, and scooped up her daughter into her arms.

"Hohen!"(1) Winry yelled before she managed to grip onto one of her sons' small arms and steer him towards his father. "You go with Daddy."

"Come here little guy!" Ed said with a wide grin while he bent down so that his son could run into his arms.

"Is everyone ready?" the photographer asked.

"Yes," Winry answered. "Now where would you like to place us?"

"How about right here?" He asked, motioning to en empty spot on the living room wall.

"Perfect."

"Now how about we have the little ones in front? With their parents of course. And then we can have this young lady," he motioned to Mei, "Stand besides you sir. And then we'll have him," he motioned to Al, "and have him behind you. Does that sound good to you?"

"Oh yes. That sounds great," Winry said with a smile before she began to walk over to the spot.

As Ed got into his place, he noticed something across the room. It was the large board covered in different pictures but one caught his eyes. The picture had been placed in a small golden picture frame once it had been returned to the house and now looked quite more tattered and dirtier than it had been before hand. Ed felt a small lurch in the pit of his stomach when his eyes locked with his own and then moved to his father's watery eyes. Had twenty-two years really passed since that day? It seemed surreal to him as he stared at all of the different pictures in front of him and thought of how all of those days were now long gone.

Edward turned his head, caught his wife's eye, and smirked at her. Years had passed since they confessed their feelings to each other but Ed still couldn't quite realize just how much he had changed from that day. How much he had changed over the course of his still short life…

"Everyone ready?" the photographer asked before he began to steady his camera. "Okay, on the count of three! One…"

Ed redirected his focus towards his old family picture. How would his parents react if they could be here to day too? He could picture his mother, forever looking the same age with a bright smile and fresh tears in her eyes; so proud of all that he had done and so happy for him and his new family.

"Two…"

And then he pictured if is father were here. Hohenheim would still carry the awkward air of uncertainty whenever he was involved in something happy as this and probably wouldn't be sure what to do but smile for him in the end, happy for both of his sons, for he loved them both more than either of them could even begin to imagine.

Edward felt the insane urge to laugh but cry at the same time as he thought about it. Was this why his father had cried in that picture? Was he too so happy and content with his life for once in his hard life that all of his emotions exploded inside of him at that moment? Who knew, but Edward steeled himself as he saw the photographer's lips move to say 'three' and smiled as bright and happy as he could possible manage; hoping to convey to the picture just how happy he had felt at this very moment for as long at the picture lasted.

A moment after the flash, Ed looked down at his son and saw to his amusement that he was smiling just as giddily as Ed was sure he had been. He then turned to look at his daughter, who was beginning to squirm after being contained for so long. Mei was smiling at Al and after a moment, Al turned and smiled at Ed and he knew that Al was feeling the same thing Ed was: unbelievably happy and still slightly confused as to how and when they had gotten here.

* * *

**(1) Hohen=Hohenheim. Get it? Since Hohenheim is a bit of a mouth full. I couldn't really think of what they might name their son so...since I love Hohenheim. *shrugs***

**So what do you think? Please tell because if you like it, there will be many more! Please send a review my way!**

**-FSK**


	2. Road to Rehabilitation

**Hello readers! Thanks for all of the reviews from last chapter and I'm glad you thought I did a good job with the family picture.**

**Here's chapter two and it's about one of my favorite characters struggle with learning to walk again. I have to say thank you to my friend, The Dani-Chan Replika, for helping me out with part of this chapter. ****I hope you all enjoy it!**

***PT=Physical Therapy**

* * *

"So are you ready?" Breda asked the man sitting up in his hospital bed.

"Of course I am," Havoc said with a cocky grin. "You said it yourself that retired life didn't suit me."

A little over two months ago, Havoc had undergone a string of new surgeries and other recently found procedures to help his spine heal. He was now going to begin his Physical Therapy session that would hopefully bring him mobility once more.

"Good," Breda said with a smile before he slapped Havoc lightly on his back.

_Knock, knock!_

Both Havoc and Breda turned to look at the door on the other side of the room. It opened but instead of seeing Havoc's physical therapy nurse standing in the doorway, they saw the short black hair and kind dark eyes that belonged to Maria Ross.

"So are you ready?" she asked happily.

The two men were slightly shocked. Months had passes since the Promised Day and Maria Ross' supposed death and involvement in the murder of Maes Hughes had been cleared up. She had only recently returned to the military but it still felt weird to see her in public places, like a hospital, after keeping her hidden for months. Havoc was glad to see her none the less, so he quickly got over his mild shock and greeted his friend.

"Hey Maria. Why does everyone keep asking me if I'm ready or not? It's not like I've been complaining about getting soars on my ass for sitting so long or having my mom all over me all the time because she's worried I'll hurt myself or anything."

"It's just that it's a long and tough process and your friends are just making sure you want to do this," said a calm voice from behind Maria.

The lady wore pale blue scrubs and had brown hair secured in a short pony tail with dark brown eyes. In her hands she held a chart with Havoc's name on it. She was Havoc's Physical Therapy nurse, Dani.

"So, we'll go down to the PT room," she motioned to the wheelchair Havoc had pushed into the corner, "and yes, you'll go down there in your wheel chair. I don't want you over working yourself before we even get started. Your friends are welcome to join us."

"Fine," Havoc sighed. "Breda could you-?"

"Got it," he said before he reached over and brought the chair to his bedside.

After Havoc had gotten safely into his chair, the four of them left the room and slowly traveled down the hall to the PT room, talking about everything that was going on in their friends' lives.

"So have you see Chief and Alphonse yet?" Breda asked.

"Yeah," he answered with a smile. "It was kinda weird talking to Al though. I mean, I've always associated him with being a seven foot tale suit of armor and now he's just a skinny little kid with this big goofy smile."

"I know what you mean. I thought it was a little weird that Ed decided to keep his left leg the way I was."

"Alphonse told me that it was because he wanted to make _Winry_ happy," Maria said with a small snicker, causing Havoc to groan slightly.

"Even the kid has a girl and I don't!"

"Oh relax Havoc," Breda said. "I'm sure you'll get a girl once you get out of here."

"Speaking of getting girls, how's Mustang?" Havoc asked.

"He's good. So is the lieutenant; she's still at his side as usual, waiting for him to screw up so she can slap him into line again."

"Heh, that sounds like them. I was worried about him for a bit, I heard he went blind."

"Well I guess he did but Marcoh gave him a Philosopher's stone and he fixed it."

"Geez, that's freaking crazy. I leave for a bit and look what happens!"

"Right in here Jean," said his nurse, who had opened one of the many doors in the hallway.

The room was painted a blinding white and had matching tiled floors. There were a set of beams that went the lengths of the room along with many other therapy exercise equipment that was scattered around the room. Havoc's nurse took hold of his wheel chair and steered him over to the beginning of the two beams.

"You'll be using these beams to walk across the room."

"Alright," Havoc said as he began to push himself from his chair. He wobbled a bit and almost fell down before he gripped onto the two waist-high bars and re-gained his footing.

"Would you two watch him for a bit?" Dani asked, turning to Breda and Maria. "I'm sorry but I forgot to grab something from my office."

"It's alright, well keep and eye on him."

"Thank you. I'll be right back."

Havoc waited for her to leave the room before he attempted his first step. Once he had managed to pick up his leg (if felt like dead weight) he instantly felt the need to fall face first onto the ground. He tightened his grip on the two cold bars when he began to wobble more.

"You got it?"

"K-kinda," he answered truthfully while clenching his teeth.

"Well keep at it!"

"I'm trying!"

Havoc was panting by his fourth step and was cursing his addiction to nicotine and the number they seemed to have done on his lungs. When it came to his tenth step, Havoc took a misstep and crumpled to the cold ground; Breda and Maria rushed to his side. He felt like he had a pounding headache and his heart was pounding alarmingly fast. Sweat had begun to run down his face and body and his breathing was ragged and uneven. Breda slowly helped him into a sitting position. A Styrofoam cup was placed in front of his eyes. Looking up, he saw Maria holding out a cup of cold water to him. Behind him, he noticed for the first time a large jug of water sitting in the corner. Havoc took it and gulped it down quickly.

"Is everything alright?"

Havoc turned and saw his nurse standing in the doorway, looking nervous and worried. She quickly rushed over and knelt down next to Maria and Breda.

"What happened?"

"Fell…"Havoc muttered, suddenly feeling embarrassed and ashamed over his weakness.

Without a word, he pushed himself up and onto the two bars. No one stopped him or gave him encouragement when he continued moving. Instead, they all continued to stand and stare at him but Havoc knew that they didn't want to throw him off his focus with more distractions.

He made it another five, six, seven…_eight _steps before he had to stop and lean over the bar to rest. Never in his entire life had he experienced something so draining as this but he didn't want to stop. He wanted to regain his mobility as fast as he could and had already wasted enough time sitting around in his parent's store. Finally, after another twenty minutes of grueling pain and sweat, he had reached the end of the beams with a grin on his face.

"Well, I think that's a good try for today, don't you think?" his nurse asked, before she turned to fetch his wheel chair that was discarded at the other end of the room, a whole twenty feet away. "We don't want to over exert your muscles so that you can't even use them."

Havoc did not complain; he was drained beyond belief and wasn't even sure if he could wheel himself back to his room. But he knew that he would have to repeat today's exhaustion many more times if he were to ever achieve his goal.

* * *

"Think you can do one more?" Breda asked.

"M-maybe," Havoc panted before he chugged a cup of water.

Almost a month had passed since he began using the handle bars to walk and he was improving, slowly, but improving none the less. He was now able to go the entire length of the bars, turn around, and repeat without falling. His nurse said that with his progress, they could begin to start harder treatments sooner than expected. Today, the session was about to end, but Havoc still had more energy to spare.

Over the few weeks that passed by, Havoc had gotten a whole string of visitors ranging from his old crew (even Edward and Alphonse stopped by to see how he was doing!) to old friends from his academy days to the old bar man who was the owner of his favorite bar in East City. Breda and Maria were his usual companions and today was no different, except for the surprise visit from Kain Furey.

"Do you want to try and do it again?" Furey asked; pleased with the progress his friend had made.

"Yeah," Havoc panted before he pushed himself onto his still extremely wobbly legs. "I'll go again."

"Are you sure Jean?" his PT nurse, Dani, asked. "I don't want you to hurt yourself. I mean, if you were to pull or strain something, then we might not be able to exercise for a day or two and you could set yourself back-."

"I'm doing it," Havoc said firmly before he began to take a step.

The second round seemed to get harder with each step. His arms felt like jell-o, his entire body shook, but he kept his teeth clenched shut to prevent any noise of strain or pain from coming out of his lips. By the end, he was so completely focused on the act of reaching the wall he didn't even notice a flash go off from a camera or even when Furey made a small squeak of apology for taking the picture when Breda gave him a look. All he cared about reaching his goals, short term and long term. He wanted to be able to walk again, to stop depending on his friends and family's assistance, and maybe to even re-join the military. Who knew what he'd do? His road to rehabilitation would take some time but when he was finished he would walk on his own two legs again. As Edward had put it, if you have good strong legs, use them and walk forwards and soon he'd have two strong legs and he would make sure he'd use them.

* * *

**I love Jean Havoc!**

**I wished that I could make this a lot longer just because I feel Jean got jipped out of the second half of the series and I felt he deserved some extra time. So I stretched it as far as I could. Please drop me a review so I can know how I did!**

**Bye!**

**-FSK**


	3. Hayate's Bundle of Joy

**Happy fourth of July readers!**

**Thanks for your reviews on last chapter! :) This chapter I decided to write about Hayate's puppies-I had so much fun writing it and I think it's my favorite chapter so far out of this story. This chapter actually has a bit of continuation from last chapter.**

**I didn't get a real chance to edit this so sorry if there are some mistakes.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Well?" Riza asked in a stern voice, which was usually used within the confines of her office. "What have you got to say for yourself?"

Her dog, Hayate, sat in front of her, head down, looking ashamed over what he had done. Next to him sat a large cardboard box that was shivering slightly and would appear to be empty. Unfortunately for Riza, the box was _not_empty and if someone were to lift up one of the tattered blankets, a wiggling and squirming and squeaking puppy was sure to be revealed to the world. Three puppies in fact lay in the box, all not even a day old and already driving Riza insane.

Earlier that evening, after she had returned from a grueling day of paper work and keeping grown men in line, Riza with her trusty dog at her side was walking down the hallway to her apartment door when she was ambushed by the old women who lived three doors down from her and who she usually got along with.

"_Ms. Hawkeye!" _the gray haired lady yelled as she scurried towards her, a large box in-between her two thin arms. "_Ms. Hawkeye!"_

Riza turned and stopped right in front of her door, key already in hand and ready to go inside. Her eyes were instantly drawn to box the old women held tightly for it appeared to be…_moving._

"Yes Mrs. Fitz?"

Only now did Riza notice Mrs. Fitz's prize-winning Husky, Tinkerbelle, (1) standing behind her and looking just as overly groomed and brainless as usual with an oversized red bow tied around her neck. Riza never quite got what the point of show dogs were and was very much pleased that Hayate was nowhere as near brainless as the poor canine in front of her.

"_You!" _Mrs. Fitz howled while pointing a decrepit finger at, not her, but behind her. Riza turned and saw she was pointing at, to her slight confusion, Hayate.

"I'm sorry but, what did her do?"

This was not a complete shock to Riza. Even though Hayate would never disobey a direct order from her or do wrong, there had been many minor squabbles between the two women over their dogs. Mrs. Fitz had warned her many times about 'keeping that mutt away from her precious little Tinkerbelle' whenever she would see Riza leaving her apartment or whenever she was about to take her dog out for a walk. Riza turned her attention back to the now purple face of Mrs. Fitz as she bottled her rage.

"That…_mutt,_ he _violated_my little Tinkerbelle!"

"What?"

"_Violated!_" Mrs. Fitz yelled so loudly that a small echo followed after her. "And here's," she gave the box a rough shake, "the product!"

"I still don't understand Mrs. Fi-."

"_Pregnant_! That little hooligan of a mutt that you're so proud of got _my Tinkerbelle pregnant!"_

Riza's eyes went from Hayate, who seemed a bit more antsy than usual, to Tinkerbelle, who was oblivious as usual, and then finally to the shivering box. A moment later, it all come together in her brain with an answer for what was in the box that she sure hoped was wrong.

"Oh no," Riza couldn't help but say before she turned to glare at her now cowering dog.

"Is that all you have to say! Well I have something to say to you little Missy! I'm not keeping these mutts and if you don't take them, I'm dumping them in the gutter!"

Now Riza was not the pure definition of an animal person, but dumping a bunch of puppies into the street seemed like one of the cruelest things a person could do; she wouldn't even bother to drop them in front of a shelter?

"Fine, I'll take them," Riza said, waling forward to snatch the box out of the mad women's arms.

"Oh you'll do more than that! You'll take that _monstrosity_ and have him neutered!"

Riza could hear Hayate let out a pathetic whimper and could picture the expression that most likely passed over the gods face at these words. She didn't know exactly why she did not have him neutered long before but now she was wishing she had.

"With all due respect Mrs. Fitz, I do believe that's my chose as his owner and not yours."

"You _believe _now do you? Well I'll tell you what you _should and will_ believe-."

"Goodnight Mrs. Fitz."

Riza quickly juggled the slightly shifting box while sticking her key into the lock before disappearing inside of her apartment. After letting out a small sigh, Riza walked over to her living room and placed the box down onto the floor. She was halfway out of her coat when a thought struck her.

_How does she even know that they're Hayate's puppies? I doubt, and hope, that she actually saw them…in the act, so how does she know that they're his?_

She mentally crossed her fingers before she walked over to the box, gripped two of the flaps and ripped them open. After seeing what was inside, Riza let out a small groan of annoyance; these puppies were most defiantly Hayate's puppies.

"Damn."

After some of the annoyance began to recede, Riza began to feel as if her heart was about to burst. Three tiny puppies lay in the box, each of them wiggling blindly while letting out tiny, heartwarming noises. She reached into the box and carefully picked up the runt of the little, who let out a rather loud squeak into her ear.

_No. You can't have all of them._

Riza moved the pup into her eye line and stared at its closed eyes. It was so helpless and they needed her.

"No," Riza repeated before she replaced the pup back into the box with its siblings. "No. I can't keep them all."

As Riza sat down onto her couch, Hayate slowly edged over from his spot in the corner to a place next to the box. He sniffed around the box before attempting to bump open one of the flaps of the box with his mussel.

"Hey, stay out of there. This is all your fault anyways," Riza added while she rubbed her temple in hopes of stopping the headache that she could feel coming in its tracks.

The box shook slightly and Hayate perked up, confused. She wanted to laugh at the sight but she couldn't, not when she was trying to be stern to the dog.

"Well?" Riza asked. "What have you got to say for yourself?"

Hayate let out a feeble bark before curling up next to the box of his puppies. Riza let out a yawn before kicking off her shoes; she would just have to deal with this in the morning.

* * *

"Um, Lieutenant? What do you have in that box?"

Riza turned to look into the young face of her subordinate, Kain Furey. She had left early for work, planning on the fact that lugging a box would most likely add a couple of minutes to her daily commute.

"It's a long story Furey," she said. "But, the short version is," Riza lifted up two of the flaps of the box, revealing the squirming masses.

Riza wanted to laugh at the sight before her; Kain Furey looked as if he was a kid locked in a candy store. He then turned to Hayate and gasped slightly.

"Hayate's a papa?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"With who?"

"My neighbors' prize winning Husky. Needless to say, the old bat wasn't very happy at either of us; she was about an inch away from having a seizure."

"Oh. Can I hold one?"

"Of course you can," she said with a rare warm smile.

Later yesterday night, Riza had ran out to the local pet supplies store and bought a bunch of puppy formula since she was sure Mrs. Fitz would kill her if she asked if the puppies could nurse.

_I wouldn't be surprised if she put a restraining order on Hayate._

"Oh they're precious! What are you going to do with them all?"

"Try and find a home for them all I guess. I can't keep them all."

"What's going on here?" Breda asked as he walked into the room.

It took approximately three seconds for Breda to go from the table to the other side of the room after laying eyes on the contents of the box. Once safely on top of the heavy-duty file cabinet, he let out a tremendous howl.

"_MORE DAMNED DOGS? AGH!"_

"Why is Breda crying on the file cabinet?"

Riza turned to the door and saw that Roy Mustang had finally arrived. His hair was a bit out of place, as if he had fallen asleep momentarily somewhere and had just woken up, and there were slight bags under his eyes. Furey answered Roy's query for her.

"Riza has puppies!"

"What?"

"Hayate got a little too close to my neighbors dog," Riza answered before giving Hayate a look.

"Oh. How many?" he asked while he made his way over to the box.

"Three."

"_Aww,_ they look just like their daddy," Roy said in a tone reminiscent to one that Hughes would have used as he shoved pictures up your nose.

"Yes but the problem is even if I had the salary to take care of four dogs, I don't think my apartment attendant would be very pleased with me."

Roy smirked at her before he whispered so quietly that only Riza could hear, "You could solve this problem if you just moved in with me."

Riza let out an exasperated sigh at her boyfriend/Superior before she slapped him on the side of his head with the butt of her gun. The Fraternization laws had been revoked a few months after the government had been overturned and had been revoked only under careful consideration. They had only been together for a short time now but Riza still forced a professional relationship during work, even though everyone in East City and probably much of other major cities knew about the two of them.

"Not at work sir."

"So what's going to happen to these little bundles of joy then?" Roy said while picking up one of the pups and nuzzling it slightly.

"I'll just have to find homes for them I guess. But not for a while since they're only recently born."

"Well then why did you bring them to work?" Furey asked.

"I don't have anyone who could possibly take care of them during the day. I brought them their formula and they have plenty of blankets in there."

"Right."

"Do you know anyone who would want one? No sir," Riza added in a stern tone when she saw her superiors face open, about to speak. "You'll work the poor pup to death."

"Oh and you're such a good owner!" Roy said sarcastically. "You _shot_ at him!"

"Yes and now he behaves. But _you_ on the other hand would not realize when you continued to cross the line."

"Oh come on! Give me more credit than that. I like to think I've gotten better."

"That doesn't mean it's true."

"Would you still consider me when they're old enough?" Roy asked, sounding a bit more childish than probably intended.

"Maybe."

Riza placed her hand into the box and let it graze the last puppy in there. It was sleeping soundly but shivered slightly when her fingers brushed it.

"How about you Furey?"

"Huh?"

"Could you take a puppy? I know you're not living in the dorms anymore. Does your new apartment allow dogs?"

"Oh!" Furey's eyes lit up behind his thick rimmed glasses. "I don't know, they might since I live on the ground floor. I ask tonight when I get home."

"What happens to the little one in there then?" Roy asked, motioning to the box.

"We still have some time until we have to find homes; I'm sure I'll find one by then."

* * *

Almost two months had passed by and summer was now here. It was a warm and pleasant Saturday at the nearby park; a perfect day for a picnic. Riza so was busy setting up her blanket that she did not even hear the distant barks. She only looked up when she heard Hayate growing but she soon realized that it was not real and merely playing with one of his puppies. The said puppy's owner was jogging behind it, trying to catch up to it.

"Hello Roy," Riza said with a smile before she placed a kiss on his cheek.

The puppy she had taken from her had now left its father and was now busy gnawing on the side of Roy's shoe.

"Ruby! _Stop it_!" Roy yelled while giving his foot a shake.

"She sure is feisty. I know a sure-fire way to stop her from doing that," Riza said as she began to set up the food away from the puppy.

"I am not shooting at her!"

"Well of course you wouldn't be; you're not a very good aim."

"Hey!"

"Hey guys!"

The two turned and saw Furey walking towards them; a small black puppy tied to a leash was jumping and running in front of him. Roy's puppy shot up and ran over to her brother to great him.

"Hello Kain."

"I guess Breda's not coming?" he asked as he sat down on the edge of the blanket.

"I don't know. He said he might."

"Yeah right," Riza said. "He's not coming. He told me he was just going to be dropping him off and picking him up later."

"So he's defiantly coming?" Furey asked.

"Jean doesn't break promises that easily."

After they had all transferred back to Eastern Command, they soon were glad to realize how close they were to Jean's clinic. He hadn't had a chance to visit them all lately, they usually visited him, but he told them all that he was doing so well with his Physical Therapy that he felt up to coming.

Only a few minutes later, Roy could have sworn he saw the blond jelled bristles of a certain mans hair. He stood up to get a better look and smiled at what he saw.

"Been a long time Jean!" Roy called out to the man who was limping and depending heavily on the thick cane that he held tightly in his right.

Breda had placed a helping hand on his friend's back but was clearly in the middle of a dilemma as the dog, who was attached to a lease in Jean's left had, kept trying to walk by Breda.

"How's it going everyone?" Jean asked in a tiered voice as he made his way slowly to the group.

Riza quickly got up and hugged him, almost knocking him down in the process. She was astounded and unbelievably happy at the sight of her friend upright and moving towards her.

"Hi Riza."

"Hello Jean," Riza said with a smile before she turned her attention to the puppy wearing a vest. "And hello to you too. I can only assume the dog training classes are working then?"

The dog that Riza had given to Jean was being used to not only help him in Physical Therapy, but also to help him around the household. Jean might be able to stumble around a bit, but he still relied heavily on the use of his wheelchair and sometimes needed another hand or paw.

Riza helped Jean over to the blanket and into a sitting position against the tree. Once his dog was free of its leash, he quickly ran to great his siblings and father who he had not seen in a while.

"Are you planning on staying Breda?" Riza asked. "I'm pretty sure three out of the four of them won't bother you."

"All you have to watch out for is Ruby, since Roy can't see control a dog for shit," Jean said as he lit a cigarette.

"Gee, I missed you too Jean," Roy muttered sarcastically but grabbed his pup and placed it in his lap anyways.

The five friends and the four dogs sat together under the tree in the park, enjoying food, stories, and each other's company for hours. Only when the sun had fallen completely past the horizon and the sky turned a dark blue did they leave the park before they regrouped at Roy's house for coffee.

Long past when she had originally planned, Riza walked into her apartment and collapsed onto her couch. She missed seeing all of her friends but they were draining. Hayate licked one of Riza's hands, causing her to look at her loyal dog.

"Did you have a good time with your kids too boy?" she muttered while mussing up the fur on the top of his head. "Good, because I did too."

* * *

**(1) Name of my friends dog who died recently but was such a sweetie. (although, she was a German Shepard and not a Husky)**

**Puppies! I loved picturing Roy freaking out over the little puppies while Breda cowards in the corner. And I loved Jean, he'd awesome. **

**Sorry if my updating slows down a bit now. My Internet is broken and I have to rely on the Library's free Internet.**

**Please leave a review and thanks for reading!**

**-FSK**


	4. Glad to be Back

**MY COMUTER IS COMPLETELY FIXED! XD**

**Sorry for the wait but my hands were pretty much tied between being busy with friends and the fact that my computer was not working. But now that my mom's friend fixed it (I love her) my updates will go back to normal.**

**This chapter is on Falman and I think it's the shortest chapter I've ever writen.**

* * *

"Are you sure about staying here?" Major Miles asked.

"What I want to know is if you're sure about leaving," Falman joked before he took a long sip from his cup of instant coffee.

"I'm not leaving permanently," Miles reminded him. "It'll just be temporary until Scar and I have done some significant work on repairing Ishbal and then you'll be free to leave."

"Yeah well, I told myself similar things when I was transferred here but now I'm pretty set on staying here."

"General Armstrong won't let me leave so easily; I'm sure she would not be too happy if I decided to stay near Ishbal. Just like how I'm sure General Mustang isn't so set on having one of his men so far away for too much longer."

"Like I told everyone, I'm staying here another year and then I'll transfer back to Eastern Command with Mustang."

Tomorrow morning, Major Miles would be taking a train down to Ishbal and begin his work on the reconstruction along with Scar, who had been recently be absolved of all his crimes; Falman was sad to see that he would be going.

Soon after the Promise Day had passed, the promoted Brigadier General Roy Mustang, and his subordinates, returned to his post as commander at Eastern Command. After some thinking, Falman decided that he was not quite done with working up here and apparently neither was General Armstrong. She informed him that he still had plenty of work to do up here and would not loss another one of her men after the death of the Buccaneer and the temporary loss of Miles. Falman would be returning to the East by the next winter.

Now, an hour or two after clocking out, Falman and Miles sat in one of the few and poorly heated offices in the Briggs, working on collecting Miles' scattered possessions and enjoying some of the Briggs' horrendous instant coffee.

"I think we've checked all over the Briggs," Miles sat, staring in the large cardboard box that held his collected possessions.

"Good because even if you said you needed to check more rooms I'd leave you; I'm beat and starving."

"I doubt that anything left in a random room in this fortress will be that badly needed after I leave," Miles said, getting up from his seat and picking up his box.

"Goodnight Major."

"See you in the morning Lieutenant."

* * *

"Are you really leaving Lieutenant?" asked one of the many Sergeants who worked at Fort Briggs.

"Yes," Falman answered while he continued to pack his things into several boxes marked with his name. His dorm room was now stripped of nearly all its personal items and most of the floor space was covered in boxes and garbage bags. "I said a year ago that I would only be staying until the next winter."

"But you've been doing so well here," said another Sergeant who had showed up at his dorm to say goodbye. "Are you sure you can't stay longer?"

"I'm sorry but I have promises that I made years before and I have to keep them."

"You're talking about General Mustang, right?"

"Yes."

"But General Armstrong is much better!"

"That is something that can be put up for discussion," Falman said with a smile. "Now, if I intend on leaving on tomorrow's train, I should get back to packing."

"Wait!"

"What is it?" Falman asked as he stuffed more clothes into random boxes.

"Do you think you could meet us back up on the observation deck in an hour?"

"Why?"

"Oh um…"stuttered the first sergeant while looking helplessly to his companion.

"Someone needed to see you," invented the other quickly. "We don't know who but the word was passed to ask you there around eight."

"Alright," Falman said slowly, eyes switching between the two Sergeants. "I'll try and be there in an hour."

"Good!" they both exclaimed.

The two Sergeants gave Falman a quick salute before turning and running from the room. Falman stood there for another moment, slightly confused by their actions, before he continued on with his packing.

* * *

"_SURPRISE!_"

"What the Hell?"

Falman blinked several more times in confusion as more and more tiny confetti pieces continued to fall into his hair. It seemed as if half of the Briggs had assembled on the deck, all looking overly happy. Behind them was a large table of food and drinks while a banner that was taped to one of the walls held the words 'We'll Miss You!' After a moment of confusion, he realized that this must be some sort of goodbye party for him and soon recognizes the banner from the party they had thrown for Miles a year ago.

"It's a goodbye party idiot," said the snippy lady who made the horrible instant coffee.

"You're leaving tomorrow and you've been here for over a year. Might as well give you _something_ since you managed to survive it up here."

Falman felt a smile come to his face but forced himself to remain calm and not start jumping up and down like a complete idiot.

"Thanks. Is the all that free or do I have to pay?" he asked the lady, remembering how she charged the coffee.

"For once, no charge."

Food was passed around, drinks were drunk, pictures were taken, and embarrassing stories were shouted louder than needed for a few hours after. Finally, around midnight, Falman reminded everyone that he still had some packing to finish up and he had to be at the station by nine and left. He was happy to be finally leaving the hard and cold fortress that was Fort Briggs and was even happier to be returning to the East under the command of Mustang but behind all that, he was sad. He would miss the friends he had made up here would probably end up visiting them all soon. Not long after Falman collapsed onto his bed, still in his uniform, he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Where do you want this box Falman?" Breda asked.

"That one? You can just put that on the couch for now."

"Okay."

Falman had returned to East City last night after a three day train ride. He was pleasantly surprised when he was greeted by his old subordinates and commanding officer at the station before being whisked away for drinks at the local bar that he used to visit every week. Breda had helped him home last night after being forced several more drinks than necessary by a certain General. Once they had woken up in the box-filled apartment, Breda volunteered to help him dig out a few things. Suddenly something caught his eyes from the bottom of one of the boxes; he searched for the slightly reflective object and pulled it up from the contents of the box.

It was a picture, one that was taken at the Briggs Goodbye party. He and two Sergeants were smiling ad laughing at the camera, holding up dorky piece signs with their fingers. It made him smile and also made him miss the coldness of the drafty place, the mountain scenery, and even mundane job of knocking down icicles.

"Wha'cha jot there?" Breda asked, breaking him out of his trance.

"Wha? Oh, nothing," Falman said before setting the picture on the table and looking up at the clock. "Hey, we've done enough for now; you want to go get some breakfast?"

"I think you read my mind. Let's go."

As Falman walked outside of his apartment complex, the still slightly warm air hit his body. He stared around at the dusty and boring scenery and smiled. He was glad to be back.

* * *

**I realise that I do like Falman; he's pretty cool.**

**So tell me what you think and I think I may be writing Miles and Scar's picture next since I mentioned Miles in the beginning and I got some ideas.**

**Bye!**

**-FSK**


	5. Enduring

**Sorry for the delay on this chapter! **

**I had some writers block with this chapter but once I got the correct wording of things I blew through the rest. As I told you before, this chapter's on Scar and Miles.**

**Hope you like this one because I am super proud of how good I think this came out.**

* * *

Sand swallowed up everything in site, only a few of the strongest structures had been able to withstand both the sand and the bombs of the past. Ishbal had changed greatly over the recent years, once a thriving community and now it was nothing but another piece of the dessert. But if he closed his eyes, he could still remember once the greatness of the area. It was his home and he would rebuild it.

"Scar."

Scar turned around to see Major Miles, a fellow Ishbalan that had promised to help him rebuild their desolate Holy land. Despite the area's heat, he remained in his military uniform.

_Probably to show ignorant Amestrains that Ishbalan's have helped in their own pathetic government,_ Scar mused before Miles extended a hand to him; he accepted it and shook his hand.

"Hello Major."

"Please, just call me Miles, we are brother's after all," he added with a smirk.

"Yes, we are."

Together, they turned and faced the remnants of their culture, both wondering how they would possibly rebuild the area into its previous grandeur. Scar stared down at his arms, one made to destroy and the other reconstruct.

_It would be best not to use these since it was because of alchemy, that Ishbal had been reduced to this state._

"Will you use them?" Miles asked, staring at his arms as well.

"I don't think it would be right. Alchemy has been used to bring Ishbal to its knees-."

"So maybe you should use alchemy to help rebuild."

"No. Alchemy has brought nothing but pain and suffering-."

"So you should use your powers to prove that it can be used for good. Alchemy, even though it is against Ishbala, can be used for great things and it can help erase the destruction of the past-."

"You are saying that we should just _forge_t? That we should _ignore_ what happened to us?"

"No. I am simply saying that we use the powers that your brother gave you to help fix our home land faster. So that our people will be able to relocate to their home sooner. We shall make sure to educate the younger Ishbalans of our past but be taught not to discriminate, least they become hateful to others as Amestrains in the past were to us."

"Isn't that General Mustang's plan for right now? To help educate Amestrains on other cultures that they have ignored now for centuries of war?"

"He's also planning on working to create a trade route and communication lines with the country of Xing. Mustang does not want Amestris to be an ignorant country anymore…and neither do I."

The arrival of several trucks behind the two men disrupted their conversation. It was the majority of their willing participants in the reconstruction of the land that had arrive in the canvas covered trucks, all eager-eyed and nearly bursting out of the vehicle in anticipation.

_How juvenile_, Scar thought. _They are yet to realize the sheer amount of hard work that will be needed to just clean up the area…but it's nice to see them eager to help with their own culture._

"Mr. Scar!"

Scar turned to look at who had shouted this at him. It was one of the children he had met in the slums. Behind the waving child, he could see many other slum members, including the old man who he had talked to when recovering.

"Hello young man," said the older man as he gripped onto Scar's hand before he turned his attention to Miles. "And who do we have here? An Ishbalan military man?"

"I'm Major Miles; it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Why thank you. And it sure is an amazing site to see an Ishbalan in Amestrain Military uniform; a site I haven't seen in almost twenty years now."

"I am not of pure Ishbalan decent though. My grandfather was, his blood just seems to be the most dominant. My commanding officer did not care about what race you were but only cared if you were a good fighter."

"Interesting. Are you here to help us rebuild? Or were you placed here under orders because the military needed a watchdog and you're the only current member of Ishbalan decent?"

"I came here out of free will and want to help rebuild my ancestors' homeland."

"Good, good to hear," he said with a smile.

Time passed by the group as the awaited for the last of the trucks to arrive. Scar had thought that everyone had arrived at least three times now but whenever he was about to start his speech and ideals of reconstruction, another tuck or two would arrive or word of more people would be announced. Never had he thought that this many people would be willing to help. (Not to mention that he didn't even believe that this many Ishbalans still survived this long.) Finally, after almost an entire hour of waiting, the last person arrived and he was able to announce his plans.

"Brother's and Sisters of Ishbala," Scar said in a clear, loud voice that cut across the land. All eyes were on him. "We have assembled here today to begin our work on the reconstruction of our homeland; the homeland that was taken from us by the Amestrain military."

Scar realized a moment too late that this was not the right thing to say or at least, not in that exact wording for Miles was standing right next to him, dressed head to toe in military uniform. The reaction was instantaneous. Roars of rage and anger were called out at Miles and someone even had the gall to throw a rick at Miles but missed none the less.

"_Stop_," Scar called out to the quickly rioting crowd. "You must not hate another just because of the Amestris Military uniform that he wears. And we must not hate the Amestrains-."

The rest of his words were drowned out by more boos and juvenile name-calling. Scar let it continue for only a moment later before he brought all the fighting to a complete and shuddering stop.

"_Enough!" _

He could almost hear the silence ringing out through the near-dead desert. The main rioters had stopped after but continued to glare. After a moment of wondering, Scar realized that his reputation as a mass murderer must have still carried with him even though he no longer held such a vengeance inside of him like he did before.

"Yes. We will not hate Amestrains anymore. Nor will we hate anyone other race for hate only gives birth to more hate and hate is what helped to spur the war that killed so many of our people and nearly destroyed our culture. I am not saying that we shall forget what has happened but that we remember it so that we do not have it happened again. Violence is not what the countries new government will be based off of; it will be based off of remembering mistakes so that we do not have history repeat itself."

Some of the Ishbalans stared at him as if he had just renounced the Great Ishbala in front of them all. Scar expected this but knew that in every new idea, there would always be a few fallouts.

_They will have to learn to think differently._

"Now, as I was saying before, we must work _together _to rebuild our land. The new form of government is granting us with supplies and money for work to help us achieve this goal. I know that some of you will feel angered at the very idea of taking help from the government that once tried to kill you; it's understandable. But we must learn to move on. We must learn to rebuild and not let our old prejudices define us and our people. So today we shall work together and rebuild."

Cheers quickly sounded after Scars words, initiated by the elders of the group who had long since understood that not all Amestrains were evil creatures bent on exterminating other cultures from their land. The last to join were the instigators of the near riot from before. After a few minutes, Scar raised his hand to stop the calls and allowed Miles to talk.

"We need to start to separate into groups. Stronger workers need to form into three equal groups. You will start with the initial clearing of the land. I need one of the groups to stay behind and help with the unloading of the trucks and help to move the materials to the designated areas…"

* * *

A month had passes now since the start of reconstruction and the land was now almost unrecognizable. Scar had given in at the end of the second day, after seeing the laboring process it would become, and decided to use his brother's alchemy to clear the land of its thick layer of sand to make the buried layer of rock cleared once one more.

Old building were found be more in shape than previously expected and were treated with extreme care when they began to fix the gaping holes in the sealing or walls that had been either blown off or had been lost to the sand. Skeletons of new but familiar-looking structures had been erected through out the area and make-shift sleeping arrangements had been quickly formed in the almost complete old houses but were now people were beginning to register for permanent housing once created. Everything was going along quite well until news of Amestrains coming to the area reached some of the Ishbalans ears; apparently Scars words of ignoring their prejudices had escaped them when an enraged group of men and women came to him.

"How can they even _think_ about coming here? Do think that they're_ supposed_ to be here?"

"Well we don't want them here!"

"Tell them to go back to their own homes because we've got enough help here!"

Scar had call out 'enough' several times before they had all settled down to a volume which he could be heard over.

"As I have said before, we have to learn to get along-."

"What if we don't want to learn to _get along_ with those monsters?"

"They are not monsters, not anymore," Scar added, remembering what he had learned about the old top brass. "These are not the people who willingly chose to kill your family-."

"But they still killed them didn't they? We don't want them here and if they do show up, they better be good with leaving in a box!"

Scar glared at the young man who had continued to disrupt him and the community whenever mention of co-existing was brought up. He looked to be about in his late teens, very early twenties at best. This meant that he would have been old enough to remember the war, probably clearly remembering relatives who died, creating a very biased opinion. He turned to speak directly to the young man.

"What you must understand is that they had a duty they were forced to uphold because of the twisted people who led this country since its very beginning but because of the most recent uprising, all of those people are now either imprisoned or dead. The people who now control the country do not want us to be at war with its own people anymore. We, myself included, want to co-exist so that at the atrocities the Ishbalan people had to go through are never experienced ever again. And it is people like you who are hindering our progress. I am not going to ask you to leave, brother of Ishbala, but I am going to ask you that you open your eyes and learn to work with the situation. You might not think about it, but Amestrain have lost many of their own family members, innocent people who did not even pick up a rifle to kill, because of our fight."

The faces of the young blond women and her parents swam before his eyes. She had stated quite clearly that she did not forgive him but he knew that she had helped him because it was what any human being would have done for another; it was contempt and it was all he was asking for. Words of wisdom flooded his head.

(1)"_We must endure"_

"_Are you saying we should forgive what the Military has done?"_

"_Do not misunderstand me. Enduring and Forgiving are two different things. You must not forgive the cruelty of this world. It's our duty as human beings to be angry at injustice. But we must endure it. Because someone must sever the chain of hatred" _

"…_Being swept away by one's own anger is no different from what a beast or animal does. Even if the entire world denies it, that doesn't change the fact that we Ishbalans are human. We must not lower ourselves to animals. If negative feelings build up, the flow of the world will become negative. On the other hand, it's possible to accumulate positive feelings and make the world flow a positive direction once again…"_

"Continuing to be angry will lower us to an animalistic level," Scar said to the rest now in a slightly clearer voice. "Again, I am not asking you to forgive, I am asking you to _endure _for if we never endure the injustices of the world, there will be no end to the chain of hatred."

The angry mob quickly dispersed back to work after this and as he asked, they group endured the military men and other Amestrains and showed nothing but contempt to most of them. Scar found it slightly amusing when the military officers gave him a wide berth, as if he was going to return to his murderous spirit any minute now and attack. Having his status go from wanted murderer to a peacemaker and ambassador of Ishbal to the rest of Amestris was a very odd change for Scar to say the least.

* * *

Two Years.

A year had passed and the one barren desert had almost returned to its former glory. Ishbal had been reborn and it was beginning to thrive again. People were living an average day-to-day life and fewer and fewer things were needed to help with reconstruction. Most Amestrains were still wary of the area but a few could be seen either helping with work or merely talking to new acquaintances they had made.

Unfortunately, because of the near completion of the area, news crews and members of the media could also be seen, snooping around, bothering people of all sorts for interviews, snapping pictures left and right and generally pissing off the general populations. It was weird to find his own picture on the front page of the newspaper. But what was weirdest for him was the fact that it was not a wanted poster but along with a collage of several other pictures depicting the achievements of the area. A caption was under it, declaring that Major Miles and 'Scar' were working together to help lead the reconstruction efforts. There was no mention that he used to be a wanted killer or anything of the sort. It was if the country had chosen to forget, which did not feel right to Scar.

"Miles," Scar spoke up one evening during dinner, "I hear that your commanding officer is quite egger to have you back under her command."

"Unfortunately for her, she'll have to wait a bit longer. I am not done here yet and neither are you. There is still much work to be done."

"Yes there is," Scar agreed heavily. "But we've come quite far."

Miles nodded with a small smile before he continued on with his meal. Staring out the window, he realized that the work would continue for several more years, no matter the state of the region. People would always hold some sort of hate for them as some Ishbalan would most likely continue to hold hate for Amestrains.

_It's Mustang's job to help educate the people of this country and try to stop the hate,_ he reminded himself. _If only you were here brother…I wish you could see the how Ishbal had changed…and I know you would have done great things for this world._

But he already did do great things. If it weren't for his brother, they would have been lost a long time ago and Scar would not have been able to be there that night.

Laughter floated in through the window as a group of teenagers ambled past. Amestrains were included in the group but no one looked as if they had been put there by choice or because they felt obligated to; these people wanted to be there. And if Scar could see the smallest of improvements, then he felt as if he had changed something for the good of not only Ishbal, but for the country as well.

* * *

**(1) this exert came from volume 18 of FMA and is not my but the amazing Arakawa's.**

**Does anyone else love Scar as much as I do? Because I'm pretty sure everyone just freaking forgot that he tried to kill Ed and Roy multiple times and killed Winry's parents and Nina and a bunch of other innocent people and just chose to remember how much of a badass he is...or they simply don't care that he did that because I really did forget that he did that stuff. Whatever, he's awesome.**

**I felt like I did a pretty good job with Scar's character but who knows because It's three in the morning and I'm exhausted...so I might have just written a bunch of crap and not even realised it because I'm in that tired state were I just can't stop writing and don't even comprehend what the Hell I've been writing.**

**Please send me a review and tell me if I did a good job or if I should get some more sleep next time!**

**Hmm...I'm not sure who I'll do next. Maybe Furey.**

**Bye!**

**-FSK**


	6. A Family Outing

**Uh, hi readers...sorry for the bit of the wait on this one. But I did warn in my other fics that I was going to be taken captive by my marching band camp this past week. I tried to wok on this after a few says but I was so exhausted I couldn't really write down the words that were swirling around in my head. But I hope still like this chapter even though I feels kinda rushed but I'm super exhausted and I need to go to bed.**

**This chapter is on the Circus picture! Enjoy the family outing the Traveling Circus!'**

**(Didn't really edit thing because even if I were to go and re-read it, my brain is so tired that I wouldn't see any mistakes anyways.)**

* * *

"Look what I've got," Ed asked as he held up four colorful, rectangular pieces of paper.

Winry paused for a moment with assisting their two-year old daughter Trisha walk to look up at her husband and his goofy grin. She was saved of having to ask by their three-year old son, who appeared to have inherited Ed's personality ten-fold.

"What'cha got Daddy!" Hohen squeaked in an overly loud voice as usual.

"Hohen, _inside _voice," Winry reminded the toddler, knowing that he would forget what she had said in about five second anyway.

"I have tickets for the traveling circus that's going to be in town next week!" Ed exclaimed once he was on one knee so that he was almost at eye level with his tiny son.

Hohen face slip into Ed's characteristic scowl, obviously not amused by the idea of going to a circus. Trisha however was completely ecstatic over the idea, even though Ed was sure she had little next to no clue what a circus was or what went on at one.

She smiled as big as her tiny proportions would allow before she began to clap and giggle.

"Cir-cus! Cir-cus! Cir-cus!" She sang as she clapped out each syllable.

"Circus' are for _babies_," Hohen sneered, giving his younger sister a look.

"Ima bay-bee!" Trisha giggled.

"Well I'm not!" Hohen declared as folding his arms and looking like such a little clone of his father, Winry had to cover her mouth to hide her giggle. "So I ain't going!"

"Do you even know what there is at a Circus?" Ed asked, ruffling his sons' hair as he gave his wife a look, knowing quite well what she was laughing at for once.

"Well…no. But I don't haveta 'cuz I can see dat the ticket looks _stupid_ and _baby-ish_. So I ain't going!"

"You know what?" Ed asked in a stage whisper. "I think you're going to want to see it."

"Why?"

"Because there's going to be a Lion man and a Monkey man there," Ed said with a grin, earning a sigh from Winry.

"Please don't tell me that Darius and Heinkel gave you those tickets."

"Well then I won-," Ed said before he was cut off by an ear-splitting cry.

Trisha, for whatever reason, had started to cry and sob; fat tears rolled down her cheeks as Winry tried to comfort her. Ed creped towards his young daughter while he tried to decipher whatever she was shouting in-between loud sobs.

"_S-s-s-car-we-eeee_! Ho-ho-ohen s-s-s-scaweee!"

Ed and Winry turned around to see Hohen standing quietly and looking all too innocent. After another moment of staring at the young boy, he reverted back to his scowling face.

"What?"

"Hohen, what were you doing?" Winry asked, knowing full well that he had to have done something to set off his baby sister.

"Nothin'!"

Winry deposited the still hysteric child into Ed's arms before she stood up and walked over to the boy. She gave him a stern look, knowing that it would only take a moment for his resolve to crack

"Scawee face!" Trisha bawled into Ed's chest.

"You were making faces at her?" Winry growled. "What kind?"

"She's lying!" he yelled, pointing to the small girl.

"Hohen, she doesn't even know what lying means," Ed said as he tried to calm down his daughter.

"Fine. I _may_ have made a lion face at her," he grumbled, staring at his feet.

"Dey sca-wee," Trisha sniffled.

"Not the one we're going to see," Ed promised her before puffing out his chest slightly and taking on a more adult voice. "He'll be nice to you or I'll have to give him a talking to."

Ed chose to ignore the snort that came out of Winry and continued to play with his children.

* * *

"You do have the camera Edward?"

"Yeah," Ed yawned.

"And there are their juice cups in there too?" Winry asked, motioning to the bag slung haphazardly across Ed's shoulders.

"Uh-huh."

"And Trisha's blank-?"

"For the billionth time, yes!" Ed exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air, exasperated with his wife; this caused his son to giggle in a mischievous way but Winry only shot her husband an annoyed look before giving their son a shushing noise and pointed to the small girl sound asleep in her arms.

The small family was on their way to the circus that was going to be convening on the other side of town. The beginning of spring air was still a bit too crisp and nipped at their noses and cheeks as they bobbed along the dirt road that lead from their family home.

"Do you have the tickets?"

"Uh…"

Once Ed had managed to run all the way back to the house, find the hidden tickets, calm his ornery children, and make it into town, they had about five minutes to get to the giant red and white stripped circus tent that was drawing all sorts of attention. Pulling along their son, who seemed set on playing in an awfully large puddle of muddy slush, they got in line and wait for their turn to enter the tent. Staring down at the tickets, it was now that Ed realized something written in black, bold writing were the words 'All-Access Passes'.

_What the Hell?_

But before Ed could think into the matter, he was having the tickets ripped from his hands and being pushed through the tent entrance by Winry, who was beginning to look as if she regretted the tickets. A portly man dressed to look like a clown (thankfully without full on face make up) showed them to their seats before creating and handing two balloon dogs to their kids; Hohen then proceeded to twist it until it popped, causing his sister to cry. By the time the announcer declared that the circus would be starting, both Edward and Winry were both severely annoyed.

"Ladies, Gentlemen, and children of all ages-," shouted the announcer as the lights dimmed and several multi-colored spot lights swirled around the large tent. "-may I present to you-," a sort of drum roll went through the loud speaker, "the Amestrain Travelling Circus!"

A loud roar of excitement followed this as the performers started to appear one by one. Jugglers on unicycles, fire breathers and eaters, contortionist twisted into odd shapes as they were carried by strong men, nimble men and women ridding on the backs of horses and elephants, clowns of all sorts, and last-.

"Oh no," Winry groaned, but only sounded half-hearted this time.

Last to enter were two men or at least they looked like men but there was something off about them; they had the appearance of an animal taught to stand on two legs. One looked like a gorilla (which was not really all that odd considering the link between humans and apes along with the similar facial features and bodies) but the other was a lion. His face morphed long with a snout and with a main of rich golden hair that stuck up proudly as he let out a tremendous roar that set the audience jumping.

Ed cheered and laughed along with the audience, feeling an odd twinge of nostalgia and happiness as he saw the two men, looking just as fit as they had years ago but happier then ever before. He turned to look at his wife, but found her trying to calm their crying daughter.

"Here," Ed said, taking the tiny girl into his arms and bringing her ear to his lips. "They aren't that scary honey. They're just pretending."

"D-dey _yell_at me," Trisha hiccupped, sounding insulted. "_Bad_ kitty."

Ed could not help but let out a good laugh at this before he turned his attention back to the colorful characters in the ring. After a few moments of looking around, one clown in particular struck Ed's attention. It took a moment for him to realize why the sad clown seemed familiar.

"No way."

"Huh?" Winry asked, leaning her head closer to Ed.

"Look at that clown over there Win," Ed said, pointing to his left. "Does he loom familiar?"

"Hmm…not…really," Winry said, squinting her face in thought and concentration before something seemed to click in her mind and she turned to Ed, looking like a deer in head-lights. "_Yoki?_"

"Oh yeah."

"No way!"

"Must have been dragged along for the ride."

"Crazy."

The rest of the Circus was dazzling and interesting, even to Ed. Animal riders were choreographed into half of the performances, usually as they shot bows and arrows onto targets. Gymnasts' flew across the very top of the tent, only a small net to catch them if they were to miss and fall. Darius and Heinkel seemed to be the main attractions of the circus, always creating great noises of excitement whenever they entered the circle; Ed had managed to catch a great picture of the two as they terrorized Yoki. He had to admit he was sad when the circus had ended but began to pack up and get ready to leave with the others.

"Where are you going?" Winry asked as he began to take a step towards the exit.

"Uh, the exit?" Ed said in confusion, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. "Shows over."

"But we have all-access passes, remember?" Winry said, point to the back writing on their tickets.

"Yeah but…what exactly does that mean?"

Winry let out an exasperated sigh and whispered something to Hohen, who giggle, before she responded to him.

"It means we get to go behind the scenes and see everything special that you don't normally get to see. If nothing else, we could always talk to the boys."

After a few minutes of waiting around, they same portly man from before came and gathered up the few people who had the passes before he took them through the back opening of the tent and walked them through the back stage area.

The man droned on and on in a smug voice as he talked about the different personality traits of all the performers and other things that Ed did not really care about at all. Ed's attention only perked up when he saw a flash of golden hair disappear behind a curtain.

_Heinkel_

"And if you'll step this way…" the man said, gesturing to the same curtain Ed had seen Heinkel disappear behind; he know had to assume that Darius was there too. Quickly realizing what might happen, Ed covered his daughters' ears by pressing the side of her head to his chest and covering the other with his hand.

Two loud roars met their ears as they stepped inside the curtained off area. As Ed had expected, Darius and Heinkel were hiding and tried to give their guests a scare. Looking down, Ed saw that Trisha's eyes were beginning to water and her face began to screw up into an expression that always followed soon after by tears. Hohen, however, was sitting on the floor, cackling and giggling as loud as he could; it appeared as if he had been shocked to the point of falling over.

"Edward!" they shouted in unison a moment later. "You came!"

"Yeah," Ed said with a smile before letting his smile fall into a scowl and added, "and thanks by the way for scaring my kid guys."

"_Sorry_."

"It was part of the act."

"Oh! You are acquainted with them?" asked the man, sounding impressed and slightly annoyed at the same time.

"Oh yeah," Darius said to the man. "We go way back!"

"Right," Heinkel said with a smile before he raised his hand and placed it somewhere about two feet below the top of Ed's head. "You were about this tall last time we met right squirt?"

Winry could see the vein twitch in Ed's temple but he stopped himself from exploding before he gritted his teeth and shot the two a deadly glare.

"Yeah," Ed growled. "Last time I saw you two didn't you have a lot less wrinkles?"

The two snorted at the comment before they let their attention drift between the big blue eyes that were looking fearfully up at them from her father's shirt to the tiny boy who was looking at them with childish interest.

"And who is this little thing?" Heinkel asked sweetly as he bent down to look at Trisha at eye level; this caused him to tear up more.

"This is Trisha and this is Hohen," Winry said, placing a hang on top of her sons golden locks. "Say hi."

"Hi!" Hohen shouted.

Trisha preceded to burry her face into Ed's shirt. Heinkel and Darius looked confused.

"She's a little nervous around you guys," Winry answered as she rubbed her daughter's back in a comforting motion.

"Oh, well," Darius said before giving the annoyed man a wary look before he added in an undertone. "We can all talk later."

"Yeah, we have work to do."

For the rest of the tour, Ed and Winry remained quiet and closed mouthed, sensing the annoyed vibes that continued to resonate from the man. At last, when the tour ended, the Elrics were pulled aside by another stage hand and told to wait for Darius and Heinkel. Finally, after several minutes of waiting they appeared. Ed was glad that they had changed back into their human forms but Hohen seemed thoroughly disappointed with the lack of hair and claws.

"So how have you two been?"

"Where'd you hair go!" Hohen asked loudly.

"Hohen-," Winry started before she was cut off by Heinkel holding up his hand.

"I see you take after your bratty father."

"Hey!"

"So you wanted to know where our hair went?"

"AND your claws! AND teeth!"

"Alright then, Darius," Heinkel turned to Darius and smiled.

In an instant, the two had reverted into their Chimera forms and where roaring and growling, and screeching to the point of going deaf. Hohen, again, ended up on the floor but this time he was not as cheerful. In fact, his face was bright red and tears welled up in the corners of his round eyes. Ed crouched down next to the boy and looked him over, surprised with his sons reaction.

"What's the matter?" Ed asked with a grin. "That didn't scare you did it?"

"I…" Hohen mumbled, the red on his face deepened.

"What is it?"

Ed then noticed that the front of Hohen's shorts were darker than the rest. Letting his head fall in annoyance and pity for the boy, Ed looked up to his wife, who looked confused.

"What?"

"_I wet my pants_!" Hohen howled, looking extremely guilty for what he had done, before bursting into tears.

* * *

After Hohen's accident, they had changed him into a spare pair they had brought with them, knowing it might happen since he had been having the occasional accident. Darius and Heinkel continued to apologize profusely after this, no matter how much Ed and Winry said it wasn't a big deal.

The two men had managed to get a small break in before their next show, in which they spent it in the Elrics living room, eating slices of apple pie and watching the young children terrorize each other.

It had been an interesting day but, as Ed put his kids to bed later that night, he felt like his life was already enough of a circus to begin with.

* * *

**Poor Hohen...well that's what he gets for being a snotty three-year-old. :P**

**I did want to make this a bit longer but I wasn't quite sure what to write.**

**I have no idea what picture I'm doing next...**

**My brain's about to fry...sleep...**

**Night!**

**-FSK**


	7. Follow Me

**Hello! **

**Sorry I haven't updated in a bit but here's an awesome new chapter for you! I love it so much I just got so excited while writing it!**

**It's Roy and Riza's picture and after some thought about what the hell was going on in the picture, this chapter was easy to write. I HATE that Riza cut her hair and for all you anime watchers out there NO, Roy does NOT have a little douchebag mustache in here. (Just wanted to rip that thing off of his face when I saw it)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Riza stared into the foggy mirror in front of her and ran her fingers ruefully through her hair. She did not mind her long locks but they were beginning to feel like a hindrance to her again.

_I should probably cut it,_ Riza thought as she twisted a lock around one of her slender fingers.

She then pulled down the tall collar of her pajama top and stared at the pale bandages that wrapped around her throat, just over the healing scars. Brushing the area where her throat had been slit on a few days prior made her cringe slightly. Even though Mei Chang had healed some of the initial wound, Riza was supposed to be on bed rest for another few days; but she could not and would not take the day off today. Gently, she unwrapped the bandage and set it onto the sink before stripping of her clothing and entering the hot water of the shower.

Today would be the day where the memorial for Fuhrer King Bradley and his son Selim would be held. The entire memorial would be put on the airwaves for the entire country to hear. The memorial was mainly something for the greater population who only knew the version of the was sent over the airwaves a few days ago; plenty of military staff knew the true version and were only playing along.

After stepping out of the shower and putting her bath robe on, Riza put a small amount of healing cream on her scar before rewrapping a fresh piece of gauze around her neck.

Suddenly, something cold and wet pressed to Riza's foot, surprising her and causing her to jump back away. Hayate stood a few steps away from she stood a moment ago, looking concerned at his master. Letting out a small sigh, Riza moved forwards and lowered her self to that she could look into his dark eyes.

"Good morning," she said quietly with a smile as she rubbed his head; Hayate barked in response.

In the kitchen, after going through Hayate's daily obedience check, Riza fed Hayate and began a breakfast of her own.

Once done with breakfast, Riza moved to her bedroom to grab her formal military wear along with the proper under garments. Carefully, Riza pulled her tight brown turtle neck over her head and over her bandages. She could still see the edge of the white material poking through the neck of the shirt but hoped that her uniform ops high collar would hid the bandage. After Riza had finished with putting on her clothes, she went to work on her hair. She picked up her brown hair clip but did not put her hair in it yet; should she choose to cut her hair again or to keep it long, submitting to vanity over efficiency?

Because Riza had taken longer than average and because of the unusually cold and biting winds, Riza chose to drive to work that day. It was not something she did often, (driving around was still a luxury to her), but as she hardly ever used her recently acquired car, she felt like today was a good day to use it.

Riza knew the ceremony would be taking place at the newly repaired parade grounds but would not start for over another hour. The reconstruction of Central Command was coming along quite nicely; alchemists could be seen all around the remains of Central Command, slowly fixing bit by bit of the once grand building. Riza could not help but smile sadly at the sight of the hard-working alchemists.

_Edward probably could have fixed all of this in a day, _Riza thought.

But she knew that the price for an alchemy-free life had a great reward in Alphonse regaining his body. The two brothers were still in Central, recovering from the hard battle. Edward could have left a day or two ago after his wounds had healed and the bolts from his automail had been surgically removed but there was no doubt about him staying until his brother had healed. Riza had gone to see Alphonse and was alarmed but his emaciated state but the doctors all assured her, along with many other worried friends, that Alphonse would be fine after some food and rest.

Riza stop the car in an empty parking space, cut the engine, and got out, Hayate jumping out behind her.

* * *

"Excuse me, Mr. Elric, you have a visitor," said a nurse, popping her head through the hospital room door.

Lying on the only bed in the room was Alphonse; still extremely thin and weak looking but better than what he had been only a few days ago. Several different tubes fed into his body, giving him nutrients his body desperately needed as fast as possible. Sitting next to Alphonse in a chair pulled close to the bed was his Edward. Almost all of his injuries had healed but was looking a bit tired; probably from staying up so late to watch over Alphonse.

"Oh, let them it," Al said pleasantly.

At the sight of who their guest was, Edward scoffed and said, "Well look what the dog dragged in."

"Hello to you too Fullmetal," Roy Mustang said with his customary smirk.

"I'm not a dog anymore," Ed growled.

"Well as you are yet to hand in your resignation papers I'm afraid that as for now you still are."

"Whatever," Ed mumbled, crossing his arms and leaning back in his chair. "What are you doing here anyways? Isn't there some big thing for Bradley that you should be attending?"

"Am I not allowed to visit you and your brother in the hospital after years of waiting to see if you'd attain your goal?"

"…I hear that you've chosen to put off achieving your goal Mustang," Ed said quietly, staring straight at Roy.

"Yes Edward," Roy said after a heavy sigh. "I have chosen to let Lieutenant General Grumman become the Fuhrer. Perhaps in a few years I shall become Fuhrer."

"Hmp…well if then I should let you know that you won't be getting your money back," Ed said with a smug smile.

"I wouldn't think of asking for it before I have achieved my goal Edward," Roy said before taking a step forward and turning to Alphonse. "I see that you're look better."

"Feel a lot better too," Al said with a big smile that forced smiles onto the other two men in the room. "But I think I can understand why Brother always hates the hospital food now; it's terrible."

"Well hopefully you'll be getting out soon."

"Yeah, but not for a while," Al said. "Not until I've gain some more weight."

"I assume you two are leaving for Resembool once you are released," Roy said with a smile.

"Duh," Ed answered.

"Well I'm sure Miss Rockbell will be quite pleased to see you two," Roy said with a lingering smile towards Edward, who felt his face heat up slightly at the look Roy gave him.

_What the Hell does he think he knows?_ Ed thought, glaring at the man who continued to look particularly amused at Edward.

"Anything else?" Ed growled at the man and his laughing eyes.

"Not really. Just stopped by while I had the chance before you two ran off again; who knows when the next time I might see you again."

"Right, what a tragedy it would be if you went too long without verbally abusing me," Ed said, voice rich with sarcasm.

"Oh brother…" Al sighed.

"Well, I hope you heal up soon Alphonse."

"Thank you General."

"And remember Edward, resignation papers-."

"Yeah, yeah I got it."

"And I'll be wanting my 520 cenz back soon."

"Right," Ed said with a small smile.

Roy gave a small nod to the two before turning on his heal and exiting the room. Just as the door swung closed, Ed muttered with a small smile, "Bastard."

* * *

"Sir, you've finally arrived," Breda said as Roy walked towards the group.

"I had to make a quick stop before coming here," Roy said as his newly fixed eyes scanned the room. "Hawkeye decided not to show up?"

"Isn't she on bed rest for another few days?" Falman asked.

"I did not expect her to listen to those orders," Roy muttered.

"You were quite correct in thinking that," said a voice from behind him.

Turning around, Roy saw Riza walking towards them, but something looked off about her. It took another moment for Roy to realize that her long hair, usually held back by a clip, was gone. Riza's hair was cut just as it had been when Roy first met her. The other men were almost stunned into silence by this sight.

"You cut you're hair lieutenant," Furey said.

"Yes," she answered simply with a small smile to the man.

"You are supposed to be on bed-rest lieutenant," Roy said using his commanding officer tone of voice.

"You've already stated that you did not think that I would listen to those orders Sir."

"Of course," Roy said before he was cut off by a voice on the loudspeaker announcing for them to take their places on the parade grounds.

The service was given from several innocent higher-ups, mostly by the new Fuhrer Grumman. He spoke of Bradley's traits of being a great commander, a valiant fighter, and ruler and how it was unfair for his young son to be taken so early in life. Mrs. Bradley sat up on the raised platform along with the other speakers; she looked close to tears during the entire speech. After all the others had spoken, Mrs. Bradley came to the podium and spoke a few words. She said thank you to the men who protected her during the coup and said thank you to Roy Mustang for saving her life. Many of the people in the audience barely kept their composure as she began to weep before she was escorted off of the stage. Once everyone had settled down, Grumman came back to the podium to speak his last few words to them.

"Citizens of the nation of Amestris," Grumman said quietly into the microphone. "I would like to thank all of you who were able to attend today and to all who are listening at home. Thank you for your time and thank you for your cooperation during this hard time."

The audience burst into applause as Grumman returned to his seat. A few moments passed before people began to stand and mingle around. Paparazzi and reporters of newspapers and tabloids could be seen running around the scene like hawks, snapping pictures and asking for interviews from people left and right.

"How are you feeling lieutenant?" Roy asked as he got up from his seat; Riza followed his actions. "And be honest with me."

"I feel perfectly fine," Riza said.

"Good. We have plenty of work on our hands right now and I'll be needing your assistance."

"Of course sir," Riza said, turning to look at him.

"Are you ready to follow me again?" Roy asked, turning to look her in the eyes.

"Always," Riza said with a small smile.

* * *

**Hmm...I think the ending is a bit suggestive? But really, I did want to make this story have some sort of Royai feel to it but I didn't want it to seem all forced like some rabid Royai fangirl wrote it. (NOT DISSING CRAZY FAN-GIRLS OR ROYAI.) I love Royai but I wanted these chapters to be realistic.**

**I loved writing when Roy visited Ed and Al...scratch that, I loved writing all of this chapter and I hope you enjoyed reading all of it too! ^^**

**Bye!**

**-FSK**


	8. Master and Student

**T~T ...it's my last day of summer vacation... So I decided to do a mass update for all of my stories today! (sorry if this is the third time you've read this message today.)**

**I'm happy so many people loved last chapter so here's chapter 8! It's Izumi, Sig, and Mason's picture. :) ****Again, thank you Dani-Chan, my awesome new beta, for correcting all of my mistakes that I had in this chapter! **

**Enjoy.**

* * *

"Edward!" Mason cried out as he saw the familiar sight of the blond-haired teen walking towards him.

"Hey Mason," Ed said as he came closer to the man.

"Whoa! Don't you look different?" Mason exclaimed before he slapped a heavy hand on top of Ed's head. "You finally got taller! Look at you! You don't look like such a runt anymore!"

Edward inhaled sharply through his nose, like he used to when he was about to explode, as his eye twitched at the R word but somehow kept his cool. He knew that it was childish to explode and rant and he had been trying to fix it but he had to do something else to make up for the lack of screaming and arm flailing.

"Yeah, and I got this way without having to drink that nasty white excretion you people call milk," Ed spat, earning himself a hearty laugh from Mason.

Suddenly, the front door opened up and the large form of Sig Curtis stepped out of the building.

"Edward," he said gruffly.

"Uh, hey Si-." Ed said before he was squashed into a bone-breaking bear-hug that would make Armstrong proud.

"You've gotten bigger," Sig comment once he let go of Edward; this was too much for Ed though.

"_YES_ I'VE GOTTEN TALLER! THAT'S WHAT KIDS MY AGE _DO_! THEY _GROW_!"

Chuckling at his minor hissy-fit, Mason and Sig ushered a still fuming Edward inside of the house.

* * *

It was always rather annoying to wake up to the noise of overly loud voices of other people, especially when one of the voices kept insisting that she rest as much as possible. Sighing angrily, Izumi Curtis moved the blankets off of her body and sat up. Whoever had the gall to chat her husband and Mason away at this hour sure had it coming.

"What the Hell is going on here?" Izumi roared as she made her way into the living room. Upon seeing who her guest was, her expression softened ever so slightly.

"Sorry Izumi," Sig said as he got up from the couch. "We didn't mean to wake you."

"It's alright I guess," Izumi said as she smiled at her guest.

"Um, hello teacher."

"It's about time you got here. I expected you here ages ago."

"Sorry about that," Edward said as he got up from the couch and hesitantly walked over to her.

Ed winced slightly as Izumi hit him on the side of his head with her slipper but returned the hug she presented him a moment later.

"So no Alphonse?" Izumi asked as Sig ushered her to sit down.

"No we thought it'd be best if we split up for this; make things a lot quicker."

"So the dynamic-duo is split up? Whoa!" Mason joked, earning a half-hearted glare from Edward.

"I would have liked to see him," Izumi said with a smile.

"Well I told him to stop by here anyways," Ed said. "But I came here to say thank you for all the help you've given to me and Alphonse over the years."

"You survived my training so of course I would help you two," Izumi said after a moment of semi-awkwardness. "And you helped me as well with your knowledge of bringing back humans; so I should thank you for that as well."

"Don't," Ed said, blushing faintly. "It was what I had to do and I knew I would have to tell you."

"Of course," she said with a nod.

"So how's Al doing?" Mason asked. "Did he finally gain some weight?"

"It's almost been an entire year so of course he has," Ed said.

"I only saw that picture Izumi and Sig brought home and he looks like a freaking skeleton!"

"You would too if you were in his shoes."

Izumi smiled as she watched the two argue and fight for a little while longer. They all talked off things that had happened, who Ed had visited so far and how Al was doing. As they were about to go have some lunch, Izumi stopped Edward.

"I want to see how you've been keeping up with you training," Izumi said with her icy smile.

"Um…what?" Ed asked, caught off guard.

"You heard me. You don't get lunch until you're shown me what you've got."

After waiting in the backyard for about five minutes, Ed arrived through the back door, barefoot and stripped down to his under-shirt and brown slacks. He wore a determined face but Izumi could see a hint of fear in the corners of his eyes.

Izumi shifted into a fighting stance as Sig and Mason walked through the back door, anticipating a good fight. Ed gave his muscles a good stretch before he got into a similar stance. In a blink of the eye, Izumi had lunged forwards towards Ed; he dodged just by an inch.

"Good," Izumi commented before she dropped and swung her leg like a windmill around in hopes of knocking him down.

Ed jumped to dodge it but clipped the edge of his automail foot on his legs, causing him to stumble and lose balance. Izumi gripped onto one of Ed's arms as he tried to balance himself within a second and turned his world upside-down in a moment.

"AGH!" Ed exclaimed as he flipped through the air before landing hard on his back, knocking all of the wind out of his body.

"Nice try Edward. I have to say that you are getting slightly better," Izumi commented before she went to help her student. "Have you been sparing with Alphonse?"

"A little," Ed said, messaging the back of his head. "He's still kinda weak-."

"More reason for him to come here," Izumi said, cutting him off. "Next time you can get a hold of him tell him I want to see him for some practice."

"Right…" Ed mumbled as he pushed his body into a standing position.

"Again," Izumi said a moment later before she was hurtling towards Edward, who was completely off his guard.

"GAH!"

* * *

After three more rounds of being flung through the air and kicked across the lawn. Izumi told Ed to wash up before he ate his lunch, one that Ed would eat with gusto after a hard beating like that.

Ed decided to take up their offer and stayed the night. Izumi spared with him a few more times during the visit and gave him a couple of good exercises. Ed never refused the work outs, knowing that it'd be best to get some training in while he still could.

"So where are you gonna go next?" Mason asked as they stood outside, Ed about to leave.

"I was thinking of going to Rush Valley," Ed said with a shrug. "It was nice seeing you all again."

"Same here," Mason said with a big smile.

"Have a safe trip and remember to bring Alphonse over here," Izumi said before she gave him another hug. "Or I'll make sure _both_ of you get over here."

"Of course," Ed said as he took a step backwards.

"Bye!"

"See ya," Ed said turning around before he stopped in his tracks and turned to face them again. "I just remembered," he said before he sat his suitcase on the ground and begun to dig into it.

"What's up?"

"I remembered," Ed said as he pulled out a camera from his bag, "Al wanted a picture of you guys. Would you mind…?"

"Why not?" Mason said before he turned to look at Sig and Izumi, who nodded in return.

"Alright now," Ed said as he got into place with his camera. "On the count of three. One…two…three…"

_SNAP!_

Ed let out a small laugh as he looked at the ridiculous pose the two men took. It was so odd and Armstrong-ish that Ed had half expected sparkles to start shooting off of them.

"Okay, thanks a lot," Ed said with a smile.

"See ya Ed!"

"Later," Ed said as he turned on his heal, hand raised in the air as a goodbye.

Once on the train to Rush Valley, Ed stared out the window and took in the towns' landscape. It really was a beautiful thing once you took it all in.

_Next time I hear from Al I'll have to tell him to come by…_ Ed thought as he let out a small yawn.

Smiling lightly, Ed let himself drift off into sleep, thinking about the warm smile Izumi wore when she saw him and the small once of pride she held in her eyes when she noticed Ed's minor improvement against her.

_And I'll have to come with him so she can continue to see me improve._

* * *

**I loved writing Ed's minor hissy fit.**

**Well again I'm sorry to say that updates will slow down now that school is starting up and I have no idea when I'll be able to update this again but whenever I get the chance, I'll try to get the new chapter up.**

**Ugh...screw school...**

**-FSK**


	9. Rings in Rush Valley

**Hi readers!**

**Um...super sorry about the uber long wait. But school is a really bad energy sucker and I can't usually write when I'm tired, unless I'm slap happy, but then my editor is usually annoyed with my million mistakes. (Sorry Dani) I did finish this yesterday but there was some trouble with the DocX Exhange and I had to wait for my beta to take a look at it. But I also had a bunch of writers block on this and I finally came up with what I should do and I hope you like it.**

**This is the little blurb on creepy Mr. Garfield and Paninya but I ended up makign this a nice-sized, EdWin-filled chapter. I was worried that this was going to be really short.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

_"You're coming back!" _Mr. Garfield exclaimed over the phone.

"Yes," Winry said with a smile. "I'm taking a train tonight and I'll be there in the morning."

"_Oh that's great news! We've just been swamped with costumers lately. No one wants _me_ to fix their automail though._" Mr. Garfield added with a displeased grumble. _"So how long are you planning on staying Hun? Just the weekend? A week?"_

"Actually…I'm planning on staying there for a while. I was hoping to stay there with you for a few months again, if that's alright."

"_Months? But…I thought you were having fun with your man-candy with him being home for a while! Is everything alright? Did he break up with you? Oh, the next women he meets will not be very happy after I'm done with him-!"_

"Mr. Garfield! No he did not break up with me!" Winry yelled hastily into the phone. "He's just going to travel around for a while and I thought it'd be best if he was out progressing in his studies, then so should I."

"_Oh. Well, than yes! Of course you can come and stay! Paninya's wanted to see you and your little rat Tetsu just won't let me anywhere near his leg and his plates been near-falling off since your last visit."_

"What! How did Tetsu break it? Ugh…I told him to be careful since I'm not around as much."

"_Well you can look at it tomorrow. I'm sure everyone will be just thrilled to see you again!"_

"Alright, I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"_Too-da-loo Winry dear!"_

Winry put the phone back onto its cradle after she heard the line click to an end. She had missed staying in Rush Valley with all of her friends and customers and massive amounts of automail technicians but she was glad to be back home. Especially after Ed and Al had returned home almost all flesh and bone.

Winry still remembered every emotion she had during that day. She felt as if she had had a heart attack when she saw the two of them, standing calmly in front of the house as they had over the years, as if they had always been like that, able bodied and all. Edward and Alphonse had not stayed put long, but this wasn't much of a surprise; asking Edward to stay put was like asking her to stop working on Automail, it was just something neither could do while alive.

But they always came back sooner or later. After saying their thank you's to some people, they would always return home to relax and check up on her and Pinako. They usually would not both be there at the same time but when all three of them were, it was as if they were children again: completely insane but amazing.

_Edward's always been pretty amazing_, Winry thought with a smile as she made her way up to her room to pack.

Edward had just left to travel to the west. He said he had only stopped by the house before he left because he needed a tune up before he left but Winry knew that he had missed her as much as she missed him. But it was okay, he didn't have to say it out loud or declare his feelings to the entire world; that just wasn't him.

_Or at lest I thought it wasn't_…Winry thought as she recounted the events of earlier that day.

She had not been expecting it at all. And she defiantly did not expect any sort of proposal to go like _that_. But that was Ed and Winry should have learned not to expect too many romantic gestures from him. Then again, was she supposed to have thought of him asking that today? Or any day anywhere in the near future for that matter? Winry at least thought that he would have waited until he was done researching the west but…she had to admit that she at least had some kind of promise from him. It did unnerve her slightly to think about Edward being around other girls in the west but Winry knew dead down that Ed would never cheat.

"Now how do I tell Granny?" Winry muttered to herself as she quietly folded clothes into one of her suitcase.

Pinako was out at the moment. She did not know of anything that happened at the train station-or at least she didn't think so but they had been yelling at each other so loudly that anyone might have heard their conversation-or about her decision to go back under Mr. Garfield's apprenticeship. Sure, she might get a bit lonely again but Winry would always come back to visit.

* * *

Winry would be arriving in Rush Valley in less than an hour. Pinako had understood last night when she told her the news of her newest decision. She said that she had been expecting Winry to go back sooner or later. Winry was glad that it did not take long to explain that to her but had quickly become flustered when Pinako asked her how Edward's departure went. But by the end of dinner, Pinako was beaming and looked close to tears and was undeniably happy about Ed's hasty proposal.

_I just hope the others will be…_

"Winry! Oh Winry!" Mr. Garfield shouted in excitement as Winry disembarked from the train. Winry could already see that a small group had come to greet her, which included Paninya and Tetsu along with a few other customers.

"Hi everyone!" Winry exclaimed as she walked over to the group.

She was instantly given hug after hug after overly-tearful hug. Several of her customers begged to have their automail looked at as soon as they could; she promised that she would once she changed and put away her things.

* * *

Winry had been back at work for almost a month now and it was as if she never left. Paninya and Tetsu stopped by everyday and they went on trips to Dominic's to see his growing grandson. One night before dinner Winry looked paused as she passed by a table. On it were several pictures of her and her friends through different times she had been here. She had never noticed it before.

"Excuse me, Mr. Garfield?" Winry asked as the man passed by.

"Yes Winry? What is it?"

"When did you put up these pictures?" Winry asked, pointing towards the small table.

"Oh those? I put them there a little while ago. Paninya helped me with it. Is there something wrong with it?"

"Oh no. It's just…I realized that I don't have a single picture of you or Paninya," Winry said sadly. "Which is pretty astounding since I've know you all for so long…"

"Well let's take a picture!" Mr. Garfield declared. "I'll go find my camera and we'll take a picture for you! Paninya and Tetsu were going to stop by so we can get them then!"

"Okay."

* * *

"Everyone get in close now," Winry said, an hour later as she angled the camera to get the best shot.

"Mr. Garfield!" Tetsu cried as he tried to push past the man's large body. "You're hogging the camera!"

"Well I can't help it if the camera_ loves_ me!"

"Seriously," Paninya said, trying to get past the man herself. "This is just ridiculous!"

"Come on guys!" Winry shouted with a smile tugging on her mouth. "Mr. Garfield, you're going to have to let the others into the frame!"

"Oh I guess you could always take a few personal ones of just me Winry dear," Mr. Garfield said with a giggle and a wink.

"Right…um, on count of three. One-."

"Mr. Garfield! Get your big butt out of my face!" Tetsu yelled.

"Two-."

"My beautiful behind is nowhere near big! It is as petit as-."

"What?" Paninya asked. "A hippopotamus?"

"HEY!"

"You guys!" Winry cried, lowering the camera to glare at the group. "Behave!"

"But-." Mr. Garfield started.

"No."

"But-." Tetsu started.

"No."

"Winry-."

"No. You all have to behave for five seconds alright? Now. On the count of three. One, two, three-."

_SNAP!_

* * *

About a month after the camera incident, Winry found herself working late again, unable to sleep when the phone rang.

"Hello? This is Garfield's automail how can I help you?" Winry said while trying and failing to muffle a yawn.

"_Hey Winry."_

"Ed!" Winry exclaimed. "How's the West?"

"_Interesting. Creta's still really behind on alchemy but you'd be surprised by the kind of greeting you get when you mention that you're the reason that their rival country is still in existence."_

"So how'd it go?" she asked tentatively as she pushed herself to sit on top of the tall table the phone sat on.

"_Really well. They let me look into a few non-public libraries and even bumped me up to a nicer hotel. But I guess since we stopped fighting with them, they've gotten a little happier with us."_

"Really?"

"_Yeah. I was even offered a few possible wives while in this one town," _Edward added, instantly infuriating Winry and wishing Ed was actually there so she could hit him for his cheek.

"Well…I hope you told them right off the back that you were taken," Winry said in a deadly voice, shaking slightly with contained rage.

"_Of course I did! Why would I want any of those girls when…?"_ Ed said before he trailed off.

"When you have what?" Winry asked.

"_Um…but, uh, never mind."_

"Edward-."

"_I'm coming by for an inspection so you should be expecting me soon,"_ Edward said quickly.

"Why? What'd you do to it?" Winry growled.

"_Nothing! Nothing all that insane! I just did something to my knee; it's sticking every now and again."_

Winry sighed exasperatedly into the phone. "Did you_ oil it_ like I told you to?"

"_Yes I did! But it's been like this for a while now I thought I should just stop by before it gets worse."_

"Alright. When does your train leave?"

"_Um…it already left,"_ Ed answered.

"Huh?"

"_I…kinda forgot to call before I left so I'm calling you from the train. I should be there in a day or two; they say the Amestris border is a few hours away."_

"Ugh…well at least you called. I have to give credit."

"_Thank you."_

"Just promise me you're not under-exaggerating the damage because I'd rather you tell me now and then I can be prepared for it."

"_I'm not lying! It's really just a little stick in the knee!"_

"Okay. Well, I guess I'll see you soon," Winry said, smiling.

"_See you soon."_

* * *

"Edward!" Winry exclaimed as she walked out into the shop two mornings later and saw Edward standing there, looking a little weary but in one piece.

"Hey Winry," he said with his usual grin.

Winry set down the box of automail parts onto the nearby counter and rushed over to Edward to hug him tightly. She had missed him dearly during their time apart, even though she assumed she should have gotten used to the feeling by now.

"So what's the damage?" Winry said once they broke apart and began to scan over his body.

"Just like a told you, just a stick in the knee. Quit your worrying, woman."

"Fine. Let's take you into the back and I'll have a look at it."

Edward allowed Winry to have her lead him over to the back room like a dog on a lease before he had to strip off his pants and let her poke around his knee.

"Hmm…I'll have to take a better look by I think it may just be a lose wire," Winry said as she got up from her spot on the floor.

"That's good," Edward said.

"But I want to look in it so I'll give you a temp leg for now."

"Ugh…fine," Ed sighed.

"I'll go find you a good fit in the back. I'll be back in a minute," Winry said before she departed through a door.

Edward picked up his discarded pants as reached into one of the pockets until he pulled out a small box. He knew he should have given Winry this when he initially proposed but didn't have the time to really look for an expectable ring. He just hoped he'd do it right this time…

"I'm back," Winry said as she came back into the room, carrying a long left leg prosthetic. "Let me just get this leg off of you and then I can-."

"Winry," Ed said, cutting her off. His right hand, the one that held the small box, was beginning to sweat and his heart was pounding. He just wished he didn't blush as much as he did before.

"What?" Winry asked, sounded slightly annoyed.

"Um, I wanted to give you something," Ed mumbled, suddenly feeling as if it was a stupid idea to give her a ring.

"What?" This time she sounded more curious.

"Uh…here," Ed said after a moment of fidgeting decision, wondering if he should get down on one knee or not before he decided against it.

_She'd probably get annoyed and say that I was messing up my leg…_

Edward held out his hand and waited until Winry placed her own hand underneath his right, waiting for him to drop whatever it was. Winry was slightly confused when she saw the small, blue velvet covered box in her palm, not quite sure what to make of it. But once she opened it, she instantly knew what he was doing.

"Oh Edward…"

It wasn't anything flashy. It was a platinum band with one diamond standing erect in the center, almost yellow in color. It was perfect.

"I hope you like it…" Ed muttered, blushing. "Al said that I was tactless for not giving you a ring when I…when I asked. And the lady at the store thought that it'd be the best when I told her a bit about you and-."

"It's perfect," Winry said cutting him off, forcing herself not to cry. "But you could show a bit more tact and at least put it on my finger."

"Oh, yeah. Right…" Ed muttered before he stood up and took the small ring out of the box and placed it on her finger. "Perfect."

"Uh-huh," Winry mumbled with a nod before she got on her tip-toes and kissed his gently on his ruby-red cheek.

_SNAP!_

Edward and Winry turned in surprise to see Mr. Garfield and Paninya standing in the doorway, camera in Paninya's hands.

"AWW!" Paninya said loudly. "How disgustingly cute. I think I'm going to barf."

"What do you mean?" Ed growled, turning to glare at her.

"I mean that I'm pretty sure I'm going to puke at the idea of you kissing Winry at the alter along with how disgustingly cute you two are."

"Say that again you pick-pocket," he growled.

Winry shook her head as the two continued to fight because she knew that it wasn't worth wasting her energy trying to stop two hot-headed people during an argument. She was just too happy to care about much of anything.

* * *

**I decided to sneak in Tetsu. You can't really see the picture so who knows if he's actually in a corner of the shot or not? ****I had some trouble deciding on whether or not I should put in the ending part with Ed's ring but I decided to put it in there in the end. **

**My guess it that the wait on the next chapter will not be as long as this one but...you never know. But I'll try really hard to get up a knew chapter before the two week mark passes.**

**Thanks for reading! Send me a review. :)**

**-FSK**


	10. Emperor Ling Yao

**Hi everyone! Thanks a bunch for all the reviews I got last chapter! :)**

**So this chapter is on Ling's royal photo. I hope you like it even though I kinda rushed it at the bottom. Oh well... anywho, read and send a review! **

* * *

Staring out the window at the beautiful horizon, Ling felt a small ball of greed and satisfaction build in the pit of his stomach.

_It's all mine_, he thought with a grin. _All of it._

Even though Greed had left his body a short while ago, Ling still felt some lingering effects; it was something that he might have expected from having spent so much time with the entity of Greed trapped inside of his body. He would feel enormous amounts of pleasure when he got something and usually it was over nothing. But today…today was definitely something to feel pleasure over.

Today was the day of his Coronation; the day that he would become the next ruler of Xing. They had been preparing for it ever since they had arrived back in the capitol and presented the dying king with the Philosophers' Stone. Sure, the rest of his siblings had soon heard of this and knew that very little good would come from the news. Fortunately for the other clans, spending time with such a greedy person had its minor benefits.

Ling had told Mei this and he was planning on making it official later today at his coronation. He would not punish or mistreat any of the clans anymore. He would try his best to be a fair and just ruler who truly looked after his people. Ling hoped that he would be able to help the poorer clans, like the Chang's, and turn the backwards country around.

Ling hoped that he would have the courage to try and change it all as well.

"Excuse me," a voice called softly from the other side of the tall and ornate doorway.

"You may enter Lan-Fan," Ling said with a smile before he turned around so that he would be able to see the girl.

"Sorry for the disturbance my lord, but you are needed in the Chamber for a quick meeting before the actual Coronation."

"Of course," he said with a nod.

Ling moved forwards and out the door with Lan-Fan moving swiftly along his side. The castle was a beautifully ornate building filled with gold carvings and statues of past rulers and other important people to Xing's history. It'd take some getting used to but Ling was sure he'd adjust, especially after he had tasted the food made by the castles' excellent staff of master chefs.

"If I may ask-," Lan Fan began after a moment of silence.

"You know that you can," Ling said quietly, smiling at her. He was pleased to see that even though she was in full combat uniform, she had left her mask off for now. Lan Fan gave a small nod before she continued where he had cut her off.

"I was wondering if you had finished with all of the preparations for your Coronation speech."

"Ehh…" Ling muttered, placing both of his hands behind his back and looking slightly out of place while dressed in such royal garb and looking so relaxed. "I was thinking about winging it."

"_MASTER LING!"_Lan Fan exclaimed, halting in her steps. "How can you be so blasé about something so important?"

Ling could not help it anymore. He let himself bend forwards and buckle in laughter at her outrage. Her cheeks instantly tinged with pink in embarrassment at his laughter.

"I was just joking Lan-Fan," he said, trying his best to calm down. "I would never be so callous as to not give today the attention it deserves. I've waited so long for this day… and I'm not about to screw it up."

"Yes Sir," she said with a nod. "I was wrong to ever assume that you would not."

"It's alight my dear Lan-Fan," Ling said with a smile. "It's your job to worry about me."

"We need to get going," she said quickly before taking a step forwards. "The Coronation starts in sixty minutes and we still need to go through a few minor preparations."

"Of course. Lead the way."

* * *

The Coronation Chamber was a small, circular room that was draped in red and gold silk and was filled with many odds and ends of royalty that seemed to have no other place, like multiple paintings of past rulers and more pieces of art that were not as important or as presentable for public eyes. The old sages, along with other people who were going to be important for the ceremony, stood in the center room. They all turned and looked when Ling and Lan-Fan entered the room.

"Ah! Master Ling!" Cried one of the ancient-looking men. "We were just wondering where you had gotten off to."

"Come in, come in," said another.

"Now, you have your speech prepared?" asked one once Ling and Lan-Fan were closer to the circle of men. Ling was pulled into the center while Lan-Fan continued to hover around the outside.

"Yes."

"And you are aware that your siblings will be present in the audience for your new policy on equal clan protection?"

"Of course I know; I suggested it," Ling said hotly.

"Sorry sire!"

"Now, we just need to do a bit of touching up on your appearance before we position you at the throne for the coronation."

"Will your body guard be with you at the throne?" one asked, eyeing Lan-Fan and her number of weapon carefully.

"Of course!" Ling exclaimed indignantly. "How would it be if your new king was assassinated right on the spot of his coronation by another jealous clan member?"

"Right…" the man said hesitantly. "I should not have been so foolish."

"You are quite right."

"Well," the leader of the men said, clasping his wrinkled hands together, "we should get moving."

* * *

After some minor preparations and adjustments, Ling was seated on his cloaked and mobile throne with Lan-Fan perched at his side, ready for any attack from any direction. The old sages would go out soon and address the crowed until it was time to have Ling carried out.

His heart was beating erratically but he kept his composure on the outside; or at least he hoped he was. Lan-Fan had donned her mask and held a kunai in one of her hands in preparation for a possibly attack. Ling wanted to say something to her or wanted her to say something to him that may relax him a little but knew he could not and she would not talk now. Not when they were about to be taken out. He had been told that he had to look as regal as possible, even if only a shadow of him could be seen through the colored and embroidered sheaths that were draped artistically on his throne.

"…and we now bring to you, Prince Ling Yao!" yelled one of the sages.

The throne gave a sudden jerk upwards that wobbled Ling and Lan-Fan around for a moment before they got their footings again. Loud yells and applause rang up from the audience below, whether good or bad, Ling was not sure.

The head Sage then walked around the throne while chanting ancient sayings and spewing out incense from a small urn that made Ling want to gag. It must have only been minutes but it felt like hours to him. He wanted it to be done with. It was horribly nerve-wracking sitting on suck a high perch while thousands of people watched his every move under the curtains.

"…come forth Ling Yao!" called the sage. "And be presented with the royal crest!"

With shaking fingers, Ling gripped the edges of the throne and pushed himself into a standing position as the curtains were pulled aside. He stood there for a moment, as told beforehand, and stared out into the crowd. He could make out where his siblings sat, trying their best to look indifferent while failing miserably to mask their true feelings. Mei Chang was probably the only one in the group that looked somewhere close to half-way pleased with him. Ling gave a small nod in her direction, hoping that she would see it. He then took careful steps down the gold stairs of the throne before he began to move forwards with his head held high, as instructed.

"I present to thee, as by the ordinance of Emperor Ming Xiao, the Royal Crest of the Emperor!'

With careful hands, the man lifted the small hair piece for all to see before turning and placing it in Ling's bun. He then turned so that he was next to Ling before backing up a step and proclaiming, "I present to you your new Emperor of Xing, Ling Yao!"

He and Lan-Fan bowed deeply before the rest of the people who had attended the ceremony bowed as well. As they did this, Ling willed himself to remember the speech he had been practicing for hours on end.

"Citizens of Xing!" Ling called out after the allotted time for respect had come and gone. "I, your new ruler of Xing, would like to take this time to present to you a new decree!"

A small murmur of confusion could be heard from Ling's pedestal. He knew it was unorthodox for a new Emperor to create a new decree right after the Coronation but he needed to do this as soon as he could.

"There has always been fighting and unrest between the different clans of this great nation and I want it to stop! Too much innocent blood has been spilled over this throne and too many of Xing's people have died or lived in a poverty because of how much attention the Emperor gives you according to your clan's status! And that is why I am creating a new decree that states that all clans will be given equal care from the capitol!"

A hush grew over the crowds and the small bit of Greed in Ling suppressed the need to grin at their shock. He definitely had their attention now.

"I will begin distributing the proper supplies as soon as I can and then hopefully we can create an ever greater nation, together!"

"All hail Emperor Ling Yao!" called a sage from behind him.

"_Hail Emperor Ling Yao_!" called the people from the crowd in unison.

Ling was then steered back to his throne where he sat as regally as he could as pictures were taken. He glanced out of the corner of his eye and saw that Lan-Fan had not yet relaxed from her tense state.

_She really is amazing_, he thought as more chants of his name resounded through the area.

Ling held his head high as he thought of all he had to do to get to this position, all the faces that had to leave him for him to get here, and he had to wonder if it was worth it.

…and it was. Because he knew he'd make incredible changes for the world.

* * *

**Ehh... I wished I could have made this chapter a lot longer but... I just couldn't think of anything. This is another chapter I think I may re-do in the future if I have time.**

**Next time I'm hoping on doing a double update with Furey and Armstrong's pics and then doing Papa Hoho last. (I love Hohenheim...)**

**Please leave a review! :D**

**-FSK**


	11. Sibling Rivalry

**Hello everyone!**

**I know it's been a while since I updated but I have been busy with school and other junk that sucks your free time. And I know a bunch of you people are going to be sad when you see how small this chapter is but do not fear! I'm planning on a double update and I'll be updating another small picture very soon after this chapter. **

**I'd like to once again thank my editor Dani for her help on this chapter. :)**

**This picture is of the Major and Olivier. This one was defiantly less serious than some of the others.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

"Can't you do that any faster Alex?" barked Olivier Armstrong as she watched her young brother, Alex, move large amounts of rubble with his alchemy.

"It is unwise to do anymore at one time sister-," Major Armstrong tried before he was cut off by his sister.

"Are you so unconfident in your own abilities? Or maybe you're _tired_?" Olivier asked, the venom in her voice only partially concealed. "Hmph… if you can still move your body so willingly you are not tired."

"Well I must admit that I am a little tired sister," Major Armstrong said before he turned to his sister and looked over her raged appearance. "And you appear to be no better condition than I."

"That is what you think," she growled. "I'm sure I could move this rubble without alchemy and still do it faster than you."

"Please do not push yourself," he said, eyes widening and watering.

"Well I won't as long as you do the job that was assigned to you."

It was less than a day since the Amestris had been saved by Edward Elric and already, people were being assigned jobs and being sent to work. Major Armstrong had been assigned the job of using his alchemy to sift through the mountains of rubble to search for survivors. His sister, Olivier, had wanted to help but was not allowed after a team of doctors looked her over and forced her to rest. Needless to say, no one could keep her down for more than a few minutes, even when tethered to a bed, and she was out and assisting soon after being given orders to rest.

Unfortunately for her, the doctors had been quite right in their diagnosis and soon after she had reached the devastated area, Olivier had only worsened her broken arm and was told to take a less strenuous approach.

Olivier interpreted this as watch over her brother's progress and forcing him on when he slowed in his progress.

"I understand your wish to have this done as fast as possible sister-dear but I must take in account that I'm supposed to be also looking for survivors. I could kill them if I do not work with precision."

Oliver snorted at this.

"When you join the military you must take in account of the fact that you may be buried in that same uniform. The people who may or may not be trapped underneath the rubble should not have high hopes for rescue. Work your hardest Alex."

Major Armstrong looked like he would have liked to argue further with his older sister but changed his mind at the last moment. He had been brought up to not fight with women, especially his older sister. He would just have to make it appear that he was working as Olivier wished while he was actually working with careful precision as before.

"WORK FASTER ALEX!" she barked a few moments later.

* * *

There had been no soldier or civilian, alive or dead, trapped underneath the amount of rubble that Major Armstrong had been assigned to search. This only made Olivier angry with him, chiding for how long it took him to work when there had been no one underneath after all.

"And now you just cost us time," she growled at him. "Why are you always such a disappointment to the Armstrong name Alex?"

"I'm sorry it took so long but I appear to be a disappointment only to you-."

"I'm tired of your excuses!" Olivier growled.

"Major!"

Major Armstrong turned around to see several enlisted men and a few reporters running towards the two siblings.

"What is it my good men?"

"These reporters have been interviewing the people who have been helping with the reconstruction of Central Command. They would like to ask a few questions- if you don't mind that is!"

"I would never mind!" Major Armstrong exclaimed exuberantly. "To help the men who bring the news to the people of Amestris is a great thing!"

"Err…right."

"Fire away with your questions!"

"Um, alright then. So, Major Armstrong, how is it that you help with the reconstruction of Central Command?" asked one brave reporter.

"I? Why I help by using the great alchemy techniques that have been passed down the Armstrong line for generations!" he exclaimed as he struck a pose, pink glitter flashing in the sun.

One of the reporters' photographers began snapping pictures like made; the flash quickly changing into a strobe light, blinding anyone who looked at it for too long.

"Oooh! YEAH! Like that!" the photographer exclaimed. "Think we can get a picture of your alchemy in action Major?"

"Of course!"

The photographer stopped for a moment to look over the pictures that had been taken and stopped when he noticed one with Olivier standing in the background.

"Do you think we can have your sister in the picture as well?" he asked, eyes sparkling with excitement. "You know, to kinda have a brother-sister teamwork kinda picture? It would look great in print!"

Olivier turned her attention to the photographer and the reporter before she gave them an icy glare and move towards them. After glancing down at the photograph that had sparked the query, she glared back at the shivering photographer.

"If you take one more picture of me without my consent, I will snap that irritating invention and bury it along with its owner."

The photographer whimper as Olivier snatched the camera out of his hands and impaled it with one of her razor sharp swords. She then flung it off into the distance before turning around and stomping off into the opposite direction.

"My dear sister's always been quite temperamental but I assure you that after a good talking to, we will give you the shot of the century!" Major Armstrong proclaimed with free-flowing tears.

"That-that's fine," squeaked the terrified photographer. "We got great shots already!"

"But your camera was ruined!" he exclaimed. "We must do a retake!"

"It's fine!" the reporter said, looking close to a mental breakdown. "We got it."

The reporters and the photographers ran away off the property while the enlisted men back away, frightened but not wanting to appear scared.

"Hmmm… I wonder what got into them?"

* * *

**Ahh Major... you and your insane sister.**

**But next mini chapter will be of Furey! I love that little nerd!**

**So, I'll see you soon! Please send a review my way! :D**

**-FSK**


	12. Out Ranked

**Part two of my double update. I meant to get this finished sooner but I just couldn't get an idea rolling for this picture.**

**This is defiantly the smallest chapter I have ever written. I wish there was more because I love Furey but I just couldn't get a better idea out. By the way, this goes by the anime's picture. In the anime, Furey was just at his desk with a radio but in the manga he looked like he had just come out of a battle and I couldn't think of anything that could go with that picture.**

**Enjoy the fun-sized chapter. :)**

* * *

"So Furey," Heymans Breda asked as he walked over to the young man. "How does it feel being a higher rank?"

"…Pretty much the same," Kain Furey answered Breda as he looked up from the old radio that he had been fiddling with for some time now. "How does it feel to you?"

"A little different," Breda answered, running his chubby fingers over the new pins that were attached onto his uniform.

It was about four months since the destruction of Central command and the uprising against the Homunculi and Father and things were finally beginning to calm down and return to normal. After much debate, the military members who had assisted in the coup had been offered a promotion for their deeds. All of Mustang's subordinates had accepted and found themselves one rank higher.

Mustang had accepted the title of Brigadier General in a flash and the other had not taken that long to accept. That is, except for Riza. Riza did not feel like she had disserved the title of Captain for some time but eventually caved into it when almost all of the staff of Eastern Command had told her how she should take the promotion.

"There's just one thing that I don't exactly like about being a second lieutenant," Furey muttered as he fiddled with some of the radio's wiring.

"What's that Furey?" Breda asked as he sat across from Furey in his usual seat.

"Good morning gentlemen," Riza Hawkeye said as she walked into the near-empty office with her black dog Black Hayate following in her footsteps.

"Morning Hawkeye," Furey said with a tiny salute and a smile as Breda ran to the other side of the room at the side of the obedient pooch.

"Good morning Furey," she said with a thin smile.

"_MORNING_!" Jean Havoc called as he strolled, cane in one hand to assist his still healing legs in walking.

"What's with the horrible cheeriness Havoc?" Breda grumbled from atop one of the file cabinets as Havoc moved to his seat by the door and sat down; it was still hard on him to walk for too long sometimes.

"Oh nothing," Havoc said before he looked down at Black Hayate and smiled. "Good morning to you too, _first lieutenant_Hayate."

"I can't believe it…" Furey muttered. "The dog _still_ has a higher rank than me… didn't think he'd get promoted too…"

Havoc let out a roaring laugh at this muttered comment, earning him a cold glare from Riza, stopping him in his tracks.

"We still love you even if you are out ranked by a mutt," Havoc said as he placed a slim cigarette in-between his lips. "You're the best person on base who can fix radios and junk."

"Thanks," Furey muttered. "Although I don't feel very competent right now, seeing as I've been trying to fix this radio for about a week now."

"Don't worry, you'll get it," Riza said with a smile before she began working on her paperwork. "And no smoking in the office, Havoc."

"Sorry…"

As the others started on their paperwork, Furey continued to mess around with the ancient radio with screw drivers and wrenches. Around lunch time he was about to give up when-.

"Got it!" Furey exclaimed as he switched on the radio and was pleased with the clear noise that came forth.

"Told ya you'd get it," Havoc muttered as he exhaled a puff of smoke through his nostrils.

"No you didn't Havoc," Breda said. "You teased him about being outranked by that man-killing flea ball."

"Well I meant to," he said, grounding out the cigarette in an ash tray as Riza gave him a death glare. "And it's the thought that counts rights?"

Riza rolled her eyes at the blond man before she got back to her work while Furey continued to check and see if everything in the radio was functioning properly.

"What?" Havoc asked indignantly when he got no response. "Would you rather I say again that Hayate's a rank higher than Furey instead?"

Furey let his head drop slightly as Riza and Havoc continued to bicker. He knew that Hayate's rank did not really count but it was still the fact that in the office around his co-workers, Hayate was a First Lieutenant and he was beneath him.

Feeling a wait on his leg, Furey looked down and saw Hayate had place his head on his lap and was looking up at him with sad eyes. Smiling slightly, Furey placed a hand on his head.

"I'm not mad at you," he muttered with a smile. "I know the rank was kinda forced upon you. Maybe you wanted to stay a Second Lieutenant."

Hayate barked and Furey took it as an agreement. He opened up a draw in his desk and pulled out a dog biscuit.

"_Shh_…" Furey said before he placed it on the ground under the desk.

Furey smiled lightly and went back to work.

* * *

**Ehh... I know it's not my best but... oh well. I'm on a tight schedule and I need this story finished by November.**

**But, next chapter will be poor Hohenheim's grave and I will defiantly try and make it a tear-jerker. I'll probably be tearing up while writing! XD I LOVE YOU PAPA HOHO!**

**Thanks and I hope you can send a small review my way. :)**

**-FSK**


	13. Long Awaited Goodbyes

**Happy Thanksgiving readers!**

**So I'm super sorry about the enormous wait but between NaNo, school, and the fact that this chapter was physically and mentally hard to write, it took some time. :( But I hope you still enjoy it.**

**This is the last chapter of the collection of one-shots and I would like to thank all of you who read and reviewed it over the months that I was working on it. :) They were much appreciated.**

**Now, on to the burial of poor papa Hoho.**

* * *

"Pinako!" Edward cried with a wide grin on his face once he saw the tiny, elderly woman walk inside from the front door with her customary pipe protruding out of the corner of her mouth.

"Well I see you two made it home in one piece, ehh," Pinako muttered as her eyes passed over Edward's flesh arm until they rested on Al's thin face. She then reached up to pull the pipe out of her mouth and her face broke into a wide smile. "You look like you could use a good meal Al."

"Maybe later Granny," Al said with a small chuckle and a wide smile. "The doctors in Central said that I shouldn't eat that much for a while; just so that I don't get sick from it."

"Well what do those stuck-up Central people know?" Pinako scoffed. "You should still get something in you Al; you look like you're just skin and bones."

"If you think he looks thin now…" Ed muttered as she glanced at his younger brother, thinking of how horribly skinny he was.

"I was thinking of making them a pie or something," Winry suggested with a smile towards the two boys, who nodded in enthusiasm.

"Well…" Pinako sighed, suddenly losing the grin on her face, "I'm afraid that that pie is just going to have to wait until later."

"What do you mean?" Winry asked in slight confusion.

"Yeah. What's the problem?" Ed asked, looking at the difference in Pinako's expression.

"I'm afraid I've got to be the bearer of bad news," Pinako said heavily.

"W-what is it?" Al asked, sounding slightly panicked.

"It's your father," she said.

"What about him?" Ed asked, trying to hide the small amount of worry that began to bubble up in the pit of his stomach from showing on his face.

"…he's dead."

There was a heavy silence that filled the room after Pinako's words had been said. Winry let out a small gasp and covered her mouth with her hands but Al and Ed both looked confused at the information.

"What do you mean he died?" Ed asked. "He's got a freaking Philosopher's stone for a heart!"

"Homunculi can still die Ed," Al whispered as he stared at the floor, looking both sad and confused. "The stones have a limit. And you said it yourself that after the battle, he offered to give you his last life for me. He was bound to die soon."

Edward stared at Al, obviously deep in thought due to the deep crinkles that were present on his forehead. It was almost a complete minute before he turned to look at Pinako and spoke.

"Where is he?" Ed demanded.

"Where do you think he'd be?" She asked with a small, sad smile.

* * *

The four of them, accompanied by Den, quickly walked towards the cemetery a few minutes later with Edward leading them. It seemed impossible that Hohenheim could have died after seeing him fight and regenerate as the Homunculi had but he did need to forget that even those seemingly immortal creatures were not as immortal as they clamed to be and that meant that his father was equally as vulnerable to death.

But what made Ed confused the most is that how would Pinako know that he had died? Unless she had seen him die first hand, there should have been no trace that he had died. The Homunculus's had simply broken into dust after their last life had ended. But as soon as the cemetery came into a clearer view, Ed could begin to see the outline of his father.

"There he is," Pinako said quietly as she panted slightly from the brisk walk.

Edward stopped and stared, his breath catching his throat for only a second but he felt his stomach drop slightly at the sight of his father, hunched over and grey, sitting in front of his mother's grave. He could hear Winry and Al taking a few steps closer from behind him and before Ed knew what he was doing, he was running towards the gate of the cemetery and towards him.

He did not stop until he was standing next to Hohenheim and was staring down at him, not quite believing what he was seeing.

Hohenheimwas gray and he looked as if he was beginning to slowly crack and break away. It was odd to see his father looking to weak but what stuck with Ed the most about the scene was that he was smiling. Ed turned then to look at the slab of stone that bared his mother's name and sighed.

"You idiot," he sighed as he whispered half-heartedly. "You idiot bastard of a father… why couldn't you have come back earlier for her?"

"Ed…"

Ed turned and saw Winry, Al, Pinako, and Den walking towards him. Den took a few hesitant steps towards Ed and Hohenheim and sniffed Hohenheim for a minute before he let out small growl.

"Relax Den," Ed muttered.

"So what should be do?" Al asked, looking just like Ed felt: sad and confused.

"We have to bury him," Ed answered simply. "Right here next to mom."

The three stared at Ed in silence for a moment before they all nodded and they began to get to work.

They debated on how they should make the grave, whether to have it dug manually or use alchemy. After some time, they decided it would be best to use alchemy, seeing as they could watch Hohenheim slowly chip away from the wind. Al made the six foot deep hole but the next problem came when they though of how they should bring him down.

"But what about a coffin?" Winry wondered some time later.

"Huh?"

"Can we really just drop him in the grave without anything? Shouldn't he have a coffin or something?"

"We'll just have to make one," Ed muttered as he cast his eyes up towards the hill where he knew the remains of his house stood.

"Out of what?"

"I have an idea."

* * *

The wood appeared unsafe and rotting to Pinako and Winry but Ed and Al knew that with the proper technique and materials, the wood would be back to normal and good as new. The four of them hauled the best of the logs down towards the graveyard and when Pinako said that there would not be enough to build a proper casket for a man his size, she suggested that they go to her house and grab some of the wood off of her wood pile.

Once the proper amount of wood was collected, Ed and Al began his work on the specifics of the casket and figured it would be best if Hohenheim have an ordinary casket; nothing flashy, despite Ed's initial ideas. Al then went to work on it and within moments, in front of them stood an impressive casket with the Alchemist-Flamel.

After a moment of hesitation, the two sons lifted their father up and into his casket. There was another problem as to how he would be placed into his grave but Edward thought to use alchemy to lift the ground in the hole and then lower it slowly until it was full into the ground.

As he watched his father being lowered into his grave by his younger brother, Ed felt a number of emotions constrict his mind and body and he had no idea what to do. But as Al covered his father with a mound of dirt, he felt what he had to assume were tears press on his eyes and he suddenly wished that he could have helped bury his father instead of having to just stand by and watch Al do it. Ed turned and saw that Winry was crying softy and even hardened Pinako was dabbing the corner of one of her eyes.

"What do we do for a headstone?" Winry whispered as she leaned against Ed some time later.

"Get some of those white rocks over there and transmute them into one," Ed said as he pointed a few yards ahead of them.

The headstone was unfortunately problematic as well. They did not know what to put seeing as their father was hundreds of years old and they had no idea of even what day he was born. So they put what they knew on the headstone:

**Von Hohenheim **

They stood around his grave for some time later, swapping stories of Hohenheim and sometimes they told stories of Trisha and how she would be happy to have him with her now. As the sky grew darker, Pinako and Winry said they should be getting back home and left Ed and Al to morn in peace.

As the two stood in front of their parents resting places, Ed turned his head and saw a large patch of wild flowers swaying in the breeze. With a sudden idea, Ed walked over to the patch and began to collect as many as he could.

"Brother?" Al asked once he had noticed that his brother had left. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going to make them some flowers," Ed said as he sat down a few feet away from the graves and began to work with some of the flowers. "You know, into those rings that mom said that he used to make her all the time."

Al watched Ed fiddle with the stems of the flowers as he attempted to make the rings by hand but continued to break and over bend the stems. After a moment of decision, Al sat down next to him and together, they tried to manipulate the flowers into something that reminded them of the rings of flowers.

"Just do it Al," Ed muttered as the sky began to darker and the air chilled significantly.

"Huh?"

"Just use your alchemy to make them. That way they'll actually look nice," Ed said with a small, tired laugh as he lifted the lopsided and twisted lump of flowers that was supposed to be a ring.

Al nodded after a moment before he clapped his hands and produced two identical and perfect rings of flowers. He handed one to Ed and together they placed one on each of their parent's graves.

"… Thanks dad," Ed said quietly after a few minutes of silence had passed. "Thanks for helping us stop that guy who was actually more of a bastard than you ever were."

Al opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to say something that would scold Ed for his lack of tact in this moment but decided against it at the last moment and nodded with a smile on his face.

"You were a lot of help," Al whispered as he rubbed one of his eyes. "We couldn't have done it without you."

After a moment, the two brothers smiled at each other, turned around and left the cemetery, feeling both sad and happy for their father and for their mother who had just been reunited with her beloved husband.

Later that night, Ed sat in his bed and thought of everything his father had ever done for him and of how he had offered him his life in exchange for Al's. Ed knew now that, deep inside, he had cared for him and Al and Trisha.

Ed held out his hands and stared at them, palms up before he thought of those rings of flowers and clapped his hands hard together, creating a slight ringing sound.

There was no blinding blue light, no loud crackle of energy as things formed, and there never would be ever again. And it was all because in the end, Ed cared about his father too and wouldn't allow him to die while there was still a chance of another option.

* * *

**T~T This was so hard to write... and the fact that my i-tunes continued to play sad music did not help me. But of course, I HAD to listen to Let It Out while writing it. :P**

**So I hope you enjoyed not only this chapter but the rest of the chapters in the collection and I hope people continued to read and review this story for some time after I've finished with it. :)**

**Thanks a bunch to everyone who helped me along the way including my readers, reviewers, and my awesome friend and beta Dani who helped me... a lot.**

**~Fun-Sized Kirk**


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